Burley-in-Wharfedale Dementia Action Group
Minutes of meeting held on 26 July 2018
Present: Quentin, Eileen, Niccola, Sue, Ann, Lisa, John, Norah, Mary
Apologies: Susan, Val, Dot, Lynne, Sylvia, Linda, Paula
1. Minutes of AGM 24 May 2018: Noted that Sylvia and Quentin will start a list of the number of information sessions held and how many people attend.
2. Minutes of meeting 24 May 2018 – accepted as a correct record.
3. Matters arising:The GP’s Action Plan is to be linked to our website. Action Niccola
BDAG was promoted in Burley Theatre Group’s ‘Ladies Day’ – Susan has written to thank.
Judith Collins has now left Cohen’s Pharmacy. Susan thanked her personally for all her enthusiastic support and followed up with a thank-you card from the group. We hope the new manager will be equally supportive.
4. Reports of events and visits since last meeting(a) The Memory Treei) Review from recent sessions: Four couples attended the last session.John has been doing a quiz and childhood reminiscences. He said he is happy to continue and Bob has agreed to let him know the theme. Thanks to John for doing this.
Suggestions to increase attendance included: telling people around the village about the Memory Tree; having T-shirts printed for the Festival – Norah to investigate; advertise MT on “What’s Going On in Burley” Facebook page – Niccola. St Mary’s church is forming an Acorn group and may be able to point people towards the MT. Ilkley Moor GP practice has asked for information about the MT. Niccola will contact the Secretary of Burley Over 50s and inform them about the work we do.
ii) Invitations to attend the Carers’ sessions: Niccola will contact Age UK for a speaker.
iii) Bradford CCG carers review visit 21 June: Two representatives from the group responsible for commissioning the upcoming contract for the Integrated Carer Service in Bradford and a Bradford Council commissioner attended the carers’ session to discuss the challenges that face carers. Questionnaires were distributed and afterwards Susan gave these to carers unable to be present. Two absent carers in our group were offered a home visit or a telephone conversation so that their experiences could be incorporated into the survey.
iv) Memory Tree review with Elizabeth 14 June: Elizabeth facilitated a very useful review workshop that was attended by most of the volunteers. Notes from Elizabeth’s presentation have been circulated to all the volunteers and will help us in our decision-making as we move forward. It was suggested that we make sure that everyone is fully involved in the second half when the carers have left the room. One suggestion was that we could encourage people to sit closer together. Elizabeth also said that people in the early stages of Dementia were welcome to come on their own as long as they were known to us and we had thought through how we would deal with a deteriorating condition.
(b) Dementia Action Week 26 MaySusan attended Ilkley Dementia Friends’ event at the Clarke Foley Centre. Bob and Chris had an information stall and gave a talk about how The Memory Tree came into being, emphasising how much carers in particular value an opportunity to meet with others in similar situations. Susan was on hand to talk to anyone who may be interested in joining Burley’s Memory Tree.
(c) Alzheimer’s Society celebrating success 28 June
The information stands and presentations from Keighley, Silsden, Ilkley and Burley were well received. Susan outlined BDAG’s main achievements in the community and also discussed some of the challenges. It was a good networking opportunity and Susan was delighted to be approached by a dementia champion who is looking for work. Ruth Owen (of Full Circle Funerals) lives in Guiseley and is willing to run Dementia Friends Information Sessions in Burley. Paula Truman was there and explained how she is keen to improve ‘Arts 4 Dementia’ (https://arts4dementia.org.uk/) in the north. She has also started to create her own Memory Boxes. Julie Duerden was off on holiday the following day but promised to circulate notes from the meeting when she returns to work.
(d) Film showing of ‘Still Alice’ 26 May
Several members of BDAG attended a showing of ‘Still Alice’ at Dot’s home and we very much enjoyed the get-together. Many thanks to Dot for her generous hospitality.
(e) ‘The Last Memory’ play 29 June
Ilkley Dementia Friends offered free tickets to ‘The Last Memory’ at Ilkley Playhouse. This was a powerful, thought provoking one act play about the joys and challenges of a daughter looking after her father with dementia and was followed by a Q & A discussion with Alan Stockhill (writer/director) and the two actors.
5. Forthcoming events(a) Coffee morning 11 AugustWe need raffle prizes please! Please leave at the Parish Centre. When Susan gets back she’ll send a message round to double check who is able to help on the day. Val kindly offered to coordinate the distribution of posters and Wendy has printed flyers. Susan has asked for a notice to go into all the church weekly news sheets and emailed an entry for the village diary, though as yet it has not appeared. A big plea everyone to promote this event please! Niccola – has put the poster on our website and will push on Facebook.
(b) Burley Festival Healthy Living event 19 August in collaboration with The Burley Patient Participation Group. This is booked – there will be a BDAG information stand and an opportunity to engage with visitors and maybe recruit new people for The Memory Tree. The timing of this event is longer than first thought - 11.00 – 3.30. To date we have only 2 offers of help from Val and Paula Truman. Susan will provide the display boards, leaflets etc. More help needed please! Val McKenzie offered to help if she is free. All offers of help to Susan please – ½ hour slots + setting up and clearing away.
(c) Dementia Friends Information Session Thursday 23 August 7.00 – 8.00 pm. Susan managed to catch the deadline for the Burley Festival brochure. The Parish centre is booked and Paula Truman will deliver the session. Susan will attend to support Paula. As yet, no other publicity – this needs promoting. Susan is in contact with Cohen’s re. any new staff who may be interested. The Coffee Station is interested in becoming Dementia Friendly and Niccola will inform them of this session. Niccola will approach the Co-op again and see if they would send people to this session. Also suggested that we could contact local pubs and restaurants to see if they would be interested in a session in the future.
(d) “Ladies Please” choir event at ChristmasProceeds from their Christmas concert will be donated to our group. The contact for more information is Shirley Moffat who would like a member of BDAG to speak briefly about the group’s work.
6. Treasurer’s ReportQuentin will go to Barclays Bank in Ilkley to sign the paperwork to become a signatory. Sylvia has signed the form to be another signatory. The bank balance as at 29 June is £7287. We have also received a further £65 from Ken’s funeral collection and £40 from Jill Hodsman from a Eurovision sweepstake.
(a) Banner
Susan has photographed Ilkley and Keighley banners and is working with Paula to design one for Burley. In progress. A table front banner may also be useful.
(b) Burley Theatre Group ‘Ladies Day’ – Susan has written to thank them for promoting our group in their programme.
(c) Clare Mason – worked at the Alzheimer’s Society prior to becoming a Dementia Care Trainer at Bradford University. She is also involved with the Pathways group that runs a monthly support group and an annual holiday for people with dementia and their carers. She contacted Elizabeth about opportunities for people with dementia and their carers to be involved with research projects and is visiting the other Memory Tree groups in August. (Later: She attended our Memory Tree on 2nd August.)
(d) Tony Nicholl - runs the Prince’s Trust Team Programme at Shipley College. As part of their course, the students need community experience and he is interested in The Memory Tree clubs. At only a few days’ notice, through Elizabeth, he contacted Susan about attending Burley on 19 July with 2 staff members and 6 – 12 students. Elizabeth had already explained that such a number of visitors would be overwhelming for our groups. Susan responded, expressing our support in principle for The Prince’s Trust and agreed that we may be able to help with the next intake of students in September as long as a maximum of 3 or 4 people attend at any one time.
8. Any Other Businessa) Art class: Susan has acquired all materials for a painting session with Greg Learmonth, at a date to be arranged, probably in September.
b) Data protection: Niccola has found a simple statement. She will liaise with Susan.
c) Photo consent forms: Julie will look into consent forms for the taking of photos.
d) Friends Together: Jane and Peter have been out on a day trip with them and felt that it may worth contacting them to see if anyone was interested in the Memory Tree. Niccola to contact.
Date of next meeting: Thursday 27 September at 2pm at the Parish Centre.
Minutes of meeting held on 26 July 2018
Present: Quentin, Eileen, Niccola, Sue, Ann, Lisa, John, Norah, Mary
Apologies: Susan, Val, Dot, Lynne, Sylvia, Linda, Paula
1. Minutes of AGM 24 May 2018: Noted that Sylvia and Quentin will start a list of the number of information sessions held and how many people attend.
2. Minutes of meeting 24 May 2018 – accepted as a correct record.
3. Matters arising:The GP’s Action Plan is to be linked to our website. Action Niccola
BDAG was promoted in Burley Theatre Group’s ‘Ladies Day’ – Susan has written to thank.
Judith Collins has now left Cohen’s Pharmacy. Susan thanked her personally for all her enthusiastic support and followed up with a thank-you card from the group. We hope the new manager will be equally supportive.
4. Reports of events and visits since last meeting(a) The Memory Treei) Review from recent sessions: Four couples attended the last session.John has been doing a quiz and childhood reminiscences. He said he is happy to continue and Bob has agreed to let him know the theme. Thanks to John for doing this.
Suggestions to increase attendance included: telling people around the village about the Memory Tree; having T-shirts printed for the Festival – Norah to investigate; advertise MT on “What’s Going On in Burley” Facebook page – Niccola. St Mary’s church is forming an Acorn group and may be able to point people towards the MT. Ilkley Moor GP practice has asked for information about the MT. Niccola will contact the Secretary of Burley Over 50s and inform them about the work we do.
ii) Invitations to attend the Carers’ sessions: Niccola will contact Age UK for a speaker.
iii) Bradford CCG carers review visit 21 June: Two representatives from the group responsible for commissioning the upcoming contract for the Integrated Carer Service in Bradford and a Bradford Council commissioner attended the carers’ session to discuss the challenges that face carers. Questionnaires were distributed and afterwards Susan gave these to carers unable to be present. Two absent carers in our group were offered a home visit or a telephone conversation so that their experiences could be incorporated into the survey.
iv) Memory Tree review with Elizabeth 14 June: Elizabeth facilitated a very useful review workshop that was attended by most of the volunteers. Notes from Elizabeth’s presentation have been circulated to all the volunteers and will help us in our decision-making as we move forward. It was suggested that we make sure that everyone is fully involved in the second half when the carers have left the room. One suggestion was that we could encourage people to sit closer together. Elizabeth also said that people in the early stages of Dementia were welcome to come on their own as long as they were known to us and we had thought through how we would deal with a deteriorating condition.
(b) Dementia Action Week 26 MaySusan attended Ilkley Dementia Friends’ event at the Clarke Foley Centre. Bob and Chris had an information stall and gave a talk about how The Memory Tree came into being, emphasising how much carers in particular value an opportunity to meet with others in similar situations. Susan was on hand to talk to anyone who may be interested in joining Burley’s Memory Tree.
(c) Alzheimer’s Society celebrating success 28 June
The information stands and presentations from Keighley, Silsden, Ilkley and Burley were well received. Susan outlined BDAG’s main achievements in the community and also discussed some of the challenges. It was a good networking opportunity and Susan was delighted to be approached by a dementia champion who is looking for work. Ruth Owen (of Full Circle Funerals) lives in Guiseley and is willing to run Dementia Friends Information Sessions in Burley. Paula Truman was there and explained how she is keen to improve ‘Arts 4 Dementia’ (https://arts4dementia.org.uk/) in the north. She has also started to create her own Memory Boxes. Julie Duerden was off on holiday the following day but promised to circulate notes from the meeting when she returns to work.
(d) Film showing of ‘Still Alice’ 26 May
Several members of BDAG attended a showing of ‘Still Alice’ at Dot’s home and we very much enjoyed the get-together. Many thanks to Dot for her generous hospitality.
(e) ‘The Last Memory’ play 29 June
Ilkley Dementia Friends offered free tickets to ‘The Last Memory’ at Ilkley Playhouse. This was a powerful, thought provoking one act play about the joys and challenges of a daughter looking after her father with dementia and was followed by a Q & A discussion with Alan Stockhill (writer/director) and the two actors.
5. Forthcoming events(a) Coffee morning 11 AugustWe need raffle prizes please! Please leave at the Parish Centre. When Susan gets back she’ll send a message round to double check who is able to help on the day. Val kindly offered to coordinate the distribution of posters and Wendy has printed flyers. Susan has asked for a notice to go into all the church weekly news sheets and emailed an entry for the village diary, though as yet it has not appeared. A big plea everyone to promote this event please! Niccola – has put the poster on our website and will push on Facebook.
(b) Burley Festival Healthy Living event 19 August in collaboration with The Burley Patient Participation Group. This is booked – there will be a BDAG information stand and an opportunity to engage with visitors and maybe recruit new people for The Memory Tree. The timing of this event is longer than first thought - 11.00 – 3.30. To date we have only 2 offers of help from Val and Paula Truman. Susan will provide the display boards, leaflets etc. More help needed please! Val McKenzie offered to help if she is free. All offers of help to Susan please – ½ hour slots + setting up and clearing away.
(c) Dementia Friends Information Session Thursday 23 August 7.00 – 8.00 pm. Susan managed to catch the deadline for the Burley Festival brochure. The Parish centre is booked and Paula Truman will deliver the session. Susan will attend to support Paula. As yet, no other publicity – this needs promoting. Susan is in contact with Cohen’s re. any new staff who may be interested. The Coffee Station is interested in becoming Dementia Friendly and Niccola will inform them of this session. Niccola will approach the Co-op again and see if they would send people to this session. Also suggested that we could contact local pubs and restaurants to see if they would be interested in a session in the future.
(d) “Ladies Please” choir event at ChristmasProceeds from their Christmas concert will be donated to our group. The contact for more information is Shirley Moffat who would like a member of BDAG to speak briefly about the group’s work.
6. Treasurer’s ReportQuentin will go to Barclays Bank in Ilkley to sign the paperwork to become a signatory. Sylvia has signed the form to be another signatory. The bank balance as at 29 June is £7287. We have also received a further £65 from Ken’s funeral collection and £40 from Jill Hodsman from a Eurovision sweepstake.
- Correspondence and Publicity
(a) Banner
Susan has photographed Ilkley and Keighley banners and is working with Paula to design one for Burley. In progress. A table front banner may also be useful.
(b) Burley Theatre Group ‘Ladies Day’ – Susan has written to thank them for promoting our group in their programme.
(c) Clare Mason – worked at the Alzheimer’s Society prior to becoming a Dementia Care Trainer at Bradford University. She is also involved with the Pathways group that runs a monthly support group and an annual holiday for people with dementia and their carers. She contacted Elizabeth about opportunities for people with dementia and their carers to be involved with research projects and is visiting the other Memory Tree groups in August. (Later: She attended our Memory Tree on 2nd August.)
(d) Tony Nicholl - runs the Prince’s Trust Team Programme at Shipley College. As part of their course, the students need community experience and he is interested in The Memory Tree clubs. At only a few days’ notice, through Elizabeth, he contacted Susan about attending Burley on 19 July with 2 staff members and 6 – 12 students. Elizabeth had already explained that such a number of visitors would be overwhelming for our groups. Susan responded, expressing our support in principle for The Prince’s Trust and agreed that we may be able to help with the next intake of students in September as long as a maximum of 3 or 4 people attend at any one time.
8. Any Other Businessa) Art class: Susan has acquired all materials for a painting session with Greg Learmonth, at a date to be arranged, probably in September.
b) Data protection: Niccola has found a simple statement. She will liaise with Susan.
c) Photo consent forms: Julie will look into consent forms for the taking of photos.
d) Friends Together: Jane and Peter have been out on a day trip with them and felt that it may worth contacting them to see if anyone was interested in the Memory Tree. Niccola to contact.
Date of next meeting: Thursday 27 September at 2pm at the Parish Centre.