Invitation to join dementia awareness week in Chichester

To mark Dementia Awareness Week, which starts today (Monday, May 18), a flurry of activities is planned while the city’s businesses, groups and charities have been becoming dementia friends.

A new Chichester Dementia Alliance is being launched to coincide with the awareness week, and it is made up of partners including the Observer series, the Aldingbourne Trust, Mind, Chichester District Council’s wellbeing team and 
the Alzheimer’s Society.

The alliance’s launch takes place on May 23, 11am-2pm at Chichester Cathedral Green and also coincides with the Living With Dementia Festival, led by the Chichester Cultural Learning Partnership.

“The role of the alliance is to work towards removing the stigma around dementia, and educate the public about how it can impact on people’s lives,” said Elaine Thomas, community wellbeing manager at CDC.

“We want to work with local people and businesses to ensure that when people use local services they can do so knowing that their staff are trained to understand their needs.”

The alliance wants people to use social media to say ‘I am a #ChichesterDementiaFriend’ or ‘We’re #ChichesterDementiaFriends’ to promote awareness of the disease.