Knitters asked to help make Malvern more dementia friendly - The Malvern Observer

Knitters asked to help make Malvern more dementia friendly

Malvern Editorial 21st Apr, 2017   0

KNITTERS are being called on to help Malvern become more dementia friendly.

Malvern Hills District Council is appealing for people to knit as many blue Forget Me Not Flowers as they can over the next few weeks.

The flower is the symbol of the Alzheimer Society’s Dementia Friends campaign, which aims to transform the way the nation thinks, talks and acts about the condition.

These will then be used to decorate the streets of Malvern Town Centre during National Dementia Awareness Week – which runs from the May 14-20 – as an innovative and visual way of raising awareness of Dementia Friends.




There will also be opportunities for members of the public to become a Dementia Friend by attending a free session.

Those who take part will gain a better understanding of the condition, know how to act more sympathetically towards people living with dementia and contribute to creating a dementia friendly community.


Once completed the woollen flowers can be handed in at the council’s temporary home at Brunel House in Portland Road.

The pattern is available to download from www.malvernhills.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing where people can also watch a video of how to make the flowers.

Coun David Watkins, portfolio holder for healthier communities on Malvern Hills District Council, said: “This is a really creative way of raising awareness about a subject that will affect all of us in some way in the future as the number of people living with dementia continues to grow.

“I really hope those who love knitting will pick up their needles and help Malvern become more Dementia Friendly through our sea of woollen Forget Me Nots.”

Rachel Vann, the council’s physical activity and well-being Officer, is behind the idea and was inspired by the white knitted angels that were put up around Malvern during Christmas.

Malvern Hills District Council is part of the Malvern Dementia Action Alliance, which is working to recruit local businesses and individuals to the local group and help Malvern to become more dementia friendly.

Several staff from the council and Freedom Leisure, which runs the council’s leisure centres, have already become Dementia Friends.

According to the Dementia UK report there are 1,486 people living with dementia in Malvern Hills district and that figure is set to increase dramatically over the next decade.

Anyone wanting more information should contact Rachel Vann by emailing [email protected] or call 01684 862475.

 

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