ONE of the earliest members of the Watchet and the Quantocks Dementia Alliance, St Decuman’s Church, has renewed its membership

The Watchet church’s renewal took the form of a presentation to parochial parish council member Keith Wiseman by Alzheimer’s Society ambassador Margaret Tatham.

Ms Tatham asked for everybody at the dementia-friendly church to remember old friends who had died with dementia.

The alliance, which is focussed on Watchet and also takes in villages across the Quantock and Brendon Hills, has as its patron the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset.

It was formed because West Somerset has one of the highest proportions of elderly residents in the country, a relatively large number of whom live with dementia and other memory problems or care for somebody who does.

The alliance supports ‘Forget-me-not Cafes’ held on Wednesday mornings alternately in Watchet and Stogursey and other services such as Watchet’s Phoenix Centre, originally the Red Cross Centre, which has led care for older people in the town and provided daily lunches with the help of teams of volunteers.

Many of the other local village and town churches are also members of the alliance, which aims to encourage organisations and businesses to have at least one person trained in how to be dementia friendly.

More information about activities for people living with dementia and ways to be more dementia friendly can be found on the alliance’s website www.WatchetDementia.org.uk or by emailing [email protected] or contacting Margaret Tatham on 07973638030.

Information for the Minehead area is available by emailing [email protected].