The Making Marlow Dementia Friendly community project held an emotional and enlightening workshop at Great Marlow School on June 25.

Fronted by the committee’s chairman Paul Bolton and vice chairman Shila Odedra-Silvera, people from across the town attended the MMDF event where they learnt about how dementia can severely affect those living with the illness, as well as the patient’s friends and family.

Mrs Odedra-Silvera, who works for Oxford Aunts Care as the head of business development during the day told the Bucks Free Press: “The workshop was part of the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends initiative, which is about helping people to understand more about dementia, in terms of what it is, what it might be like to live with it, to see what it’s like to care for someone who has it and the effects is it has for everyone who is connected to that person.”

The workshop revealed how members of the public can help those who are living with the illness by showing patience, compassion and giving time to an elderly person if they look distressed or need help.

Members of the public were also encouraged by both Mr Boulton and Mrs Odedra-Silvera to attend as many meetings and events as possible, as they continue to try and make Marlow a dementia friendly community.

According to the Alzheimer’s Society’s website, approximately 850,000 people currently live with dementia in the UK with numbers set to rise to over 1 million by 2025, with there being over 42,000 people under the age of 65 living with the illness in the country.

Mrs Odedra-Silvera then added: “Living with dementia and living with someone that has dementia can make you feel isolated because there’s so much stigma around dementia and mental health in general.

“People will stop going out partly because they’re embarrassed, they feel they’ll be judged and because suddenly, the outside world is a very confusing place.

“So even though dementia effects people individually and doesn’t affect everyone in the same way, it does have a very similar effect in the way it isolates people.

“And as a dementia friendly community, our aim is to help everyone in Marlow if possible, learn about dementia."

Mr Bolton, who founded the project in October 2018, which is sponsored by the Rotary Club, then said: “I just wanted to try and help the community.

“The amount of people who are living with dementia is increasing which has a knock-on effect to their family and loved ones and with my contacts in business, I thought it was time to help those who need it.”

The community project through Age Concern will host a free memory cafe on July 4 on 38 Glade Road which will begin at 3.15pm and will finish at 4.30pm. 

You can find out more about Making Marlow Dementia Friendly by visiting their website: www.mmdf.co.uk.