On the 22nd May, I attended the Turning Penarth Blue event at the Paget Rooms. As part of Dementia Action Week, this event was a vital part of the ongoing campaign to encourage local communities, businesses and organisations across the UK to take action in supporting people affected by dementia.

It was great to see so many different companies and organisations in attendance to help spread information about what they do for those with dementia, as well as the support available for friends, families and carers. It was interesting to know that there are so many resources out there and having events such as this is incredible for bringing awareness to them.

There were a wide range of organisations there, including:

• Sporting Memories
• Home Instead
• Alzheimer’s Society
• Memory Team
• Platfform Effro
• FMNC
• Dewis
• Greenlinks
• GVS
• Marie Curie
• Rondel House
• Dementia Friendly Businesses
• Penarth Library
• EVCT
• Barry Rotary Club
• Age Connects
• Telecare
• Live Well Age Well CAVUHB
• Tu Vida
• Mental Health Matters

All of which do a variety of different things in ways you might not have considered before, such as the potential prevention of the disease and using sport and community activities to improve the quality of life of someone living with dementia.

I spoke with the lead organisers of the event, Christine Darby, Philip Batchelor and Miles Utting, who all stated they were happy to see how the event turned out and was attended by many members of the community. They expressed the importance of events like this. Christine said, “Our main aim is to spread awareness and get members of local communities more informed about the disease. And having all these different organisations here today just shows how much information and support is out there.”

I spoke with organisers of Dementia Friendly Barry, Mark and Pauline, who a week before had run a similar event in Barry Library. “The Barry event was brilliant. We had around 30 organisations taking part which was excellent to see, and some of those same organisations are here today. We want to spread the word about dementia and these events as much as possible.” Both Mark and Pauline expressed their plans to have more events like this in the future, and hopefully even bigger.

By attending this event, even for a little while, I was able to learn so much about the different community groups and organisations that are out there to offer support for those affected by dementia. Proof that these events are so important and I would encourage anyone to try and learn more and to keep an eye out for the next Turning Blue event coming to your local area.