In 2022, the Remembering Not to Forget trustees took the difficult decision to start winding up the operations of the charity. Income from 2023 and 2024 was therefore combined into one final round of grants distributed in 2024. BRACE Charity Reg: 297965 £1283.44 BRACE supports dementia research at universities in South West England and South […]
This too shall pass
On behalf of the trustees of Remembering Not to Forget, I hope that all of our supporters and their families and friends are keeping well in these surreal times. I’ve been thinking a lot about how much harder this situation would have been if Mum had still been alive, how confusing it would have been […]
Grief has no shelf life
Sometimes I forget that my Mum is dead. More than once I’ve met up with someone I’ve not seen for a while who didn’t already know about Mum, they’ve asked how I am and I genuinely forget. And then I remember. Other times it’s all I can think about, all I want to talk about. […]
Visiting the Brain Bank
*Featured image: Samples of brain tissue, frozen at -150 degrees celsius. On 23rd August, co-founder Ali Turnbull visited BRACE and the South West Dementia Brain Bank. Here she describes her visit. Meeting BRACE While we always try to make sure that each round of Remembering Not to Forget grants are used to fund a wide […]
Bleak – LEJOG day 13
This will be a short update of our latest, crazy challenge. Documenting the ups and downs of cycling “LEJOG”. Bleak Dinner time discussion among the group in our hotel tonight has concluded that the key word to describe today is ‘bleak’. Bleak weather (rain, looming clouds), bleak landscape (moorlands stretching into the distance, rushing rivers) and the […]
Crossing the border to Scotland – LEJOG day 9
This will be a short update of our latest, crazy challenge. Documenting the ups and downs of cycling “LEJOG”. Crossing the border Managing my 12 mile test ride yesterday with no falling off, dizziness or general panic was a huge relief. The 12 miles felt a lot harder than it should have done but I’m comforting myself […]
Christmas Traditions
Every family has their Christmas traditions. Mum used to make dozens and dozens of mince pies each year, giving them out to family and friends, to staff and patients at the hospice where she worked, and defrosting them to serve for pudding at family meals for the rest of the year (there are probably boxes […]
Voice from the past
My sister recently happened across some emails written by my mum shortly after her Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2006. Helen sent them on to me, with a warning not to read them at work. I ignored her and opened them immediately, impatient to read my mum’s words, and ended up crying at my computer, hoping that […]
A happy dementia story
A lot of what you hear about dementia is pretty depressing. And, not going to lie, it can be pretty depressing. I miss my mum. The capable, intelligent woman who…