2017 was our most successful fundraising year to date, thanks to the success of our Round the World challenge and being chosen as charity of the year for Sackers Law firm. We had a total funding pot of £27,500 (including Gift Aid) from 2017 funds, taking the total raised so far to over £60,000.
If you have any questions about how funds are being distributed, or would like to do some fundraising for us, please get in touch.
Share of funds raised in 2017
BRACE
Charity Reg: 297965
£12,500
BRACE supports dementia research at universities in South West England and South Wales, aiming to help medical science understand the causes of dementia, find ways of diagnosing it earlier and more accurately, and develop more effective treatments. Ultimately, they want to help science beat dementia.
We have supported BRACE in every round of grants since we began. Funding research has always been a priority for us, and we have been impressed by the rigour of BRACE’s approach. This year we were in the fortunate position of being able to make larger grants than normal and chose to support a pilot project to develop a a new method for measuring memory, to be used in the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. This tool is designed to be used in settings such as GP surgeries. Memory is measured by placing sensors on the surface of the scalp and measuring brain activity directly, while rapidly presenting images on a computer screen
The initial pilot project involved 20 Alzheimer’s patients and 40 healthy older adult participants to act as ‘controls’. The project provided invaluable data that will allow BRACE to apply for larger grants to build on this initial success and develop the tool further.
Arts 4 Dementia
Charity Reg: 1140842
£3,500
Arts4Dementia work with arts organisations to deliver challenging, person-centred arts workshop programmes for people with early stage dementia and their carers. They also train arts facilitators from across the UK to enable them to deliver many more such workshops, alongside spreading awareness of dementia friendly events and arts and heritage sites. In addition, they campaign for direction towards arts from the point of diagnosis, raising awareness of arts engagement as a highly effective non-pharmalogical intervention to stimulate and contribute to the well-being of those living with dementia and their carers.
£2,500 was used to support the training of Arts Facilitators. In 2018, Arts 4 Dementia trained 158 arts facilitators (target of 100) at a record 10 training events held in venues including the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Opera House and the Southbank Centre. A training day for past A4D trainees was also held, including roundtable discussions on practical issues and 4 live best practice art workshops.
£1,000 was used to support the ongoing work with the South West Branch of the Alzheimer’s Society to build on the Reawakening Dorset work begun in 2017, mapping dementia friendly arts and heritage sites in the Dorset area.
You can watch a video showcasing the impact of A4D’s work on participants with dementia, carers and volunteers here
Dementia Dog
Charity Reg: SCO22315 (Alzheimer Scotland)
£3,500
The Dementia Dog Project is a charitable collaboration between Alzheimer Scotland and Dogs for Good, bringing together leading dementia support services with the provision of specially trained assistance dogs. The project aims to explore and measure a variety of ways that dogs can be trained to empower people with dementia to live as independently and confidently in their community for as long as possible, with a good quality of life.
Our £3,000 grant enabled two Dementia Community Dogs, Quill and Georgie, to complete their advanced training. It also helped to expand the Dementia Dog work into new areas, bringing benefits for more people living with dementia in the community who couldn’t have been reached before.
Quill and her handler Carla work as a team alongside a healthcare professional to support an individual with dementia to achieve a specific goal through structured therapeutic sessions. An example of goals that Quill has been helping people achieve have included:
- indoor goals such as reducing incidents of panic attacks for a lady who required increased at-home support
- building confidence in daily routine for someone with dementia and visual impairment
- acting as a social ‘bridge’ when out and about to improve people’s confidence to strike up conversation – massively reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Georgie and her handler Julia have been rolling out new animal assisted pilots in Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire and more recently Oxfordshire. In each area, Julia and Georgie have been supporting individuals with dementia through the animal assisted intervention (AAI) programme. They have completed 6 AAI client interventions in Gloucestershire and are in the process of working with a further 6 clients in Hertfordshire. Each individual receives a weekly visit for a period of 6 weeks, working towards achieving a specific goal usually around building confidence, reducing social isolation and feeling more connected in their local community.
The Dementia Dogs project hit the news in September 2019 – we’re so glad they have been able to secure the necessary funds to continue!
Alzheimer’s Society
Charity Reg: 296645
£2,000
The Alzheimer’s Society is a national organisation providing information and local support services, research, training, campaigning and awareness raising. They believe passionately that life doesn’t end when dementia begins and are there for anyone affected by dementia, including family, carers and friends.
We have supported different areas of the work of the Alzheimer’s Society in previous rounds of funding. This donation was used used to support Talking Point, Alzheimer’s Society’s online community facilitating peer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week to people affected by dementia. The service helps to alleviate loneliness and provides a safe space that people can turn to. 1.3 million people accessed Talking Point in 2018.
Our funds contributed to the running of this service in 2018. As an example of the impact of these funds: £2,000 covers the cost of running Talking Point for 4 days, or funds 45 expert Q&A sessions where members can ask trained professionals questions on difficult subjects such as dealing with incontinence, financial abuse or insomnia.
Bournemouth University
£1,500
A team from the Faculty of Health & Human Sciences at Bournemouth University have undertaken research (funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing) to understand how people living with dementia can be best supported to eat and drink well. The outputs of the research have informed a training film and workbook for care and nursing staff in care homes.
Our grant supported further work to use the knowledge and information gained to develop a new guide on eating and drinking for care-givers and families of people living with dementia. This includes invaluable advice for supporting nutrition for people living with dementia, if you would like a copy please contact us.
Bournemouth University is a Higher Education Corporation created by statute and is an exempt charity, and therefore is not required to register with the Charity Commission. Read more here.
The remaining amount from 2017 fundraising (£2,500) was distributed in the round of grants from fundraising from 2018.
