With our campaign still aiming to bring an Admiral nurse to Honiton, Heather Penwarden takes a look back at the fundraising so far.
Honiton Dementia Action Alliance seeks to improve the lives of families living with dementia by raising awareness in our community and supporting dementia friendly activities such as the nostalgic cinema, pub lunch club, and ambling group.
However great these supportive informal networks are, we know that the real challenges are faced at home on a daily basis.
There are about 200 people living in the Honiton area with a diagnosis of dementia and as those who are living with dementia know, it does not just affect one person but touches the whole family.
Earlier this year we approached Dementia UK, a national charity that provides specialist dementia support for families through their Admiral Nurse service. We were delighted when Dementia UK agreed to support us in working towards having our own Admiral Nurse for families coping with dementia who have a Honiton GP.
Over the past few months, we have, with the help of the Midweek Herald, been working hard to raise awareness about Dementia UK and the role of an Admiral Nurse and to hopefully inspire local individuals, groups and organisations to raise funds for a Dementia UK Admiral Nurse for Honiton.
Over this period, we have been astounded and humbled by the way members of our community have taken this cause to their hearts and minds. Through this paper we have heard many examples of the different ways and reasons people have donated to the Honiton Admiral Nurse fund.
Kicked off by our local barber Alan Rowe, we went on to receive donations from kind individuals and groups like the Honiton Lions, Awliscombe and Weston villages and the Honiton Ladies Golf team. The Beehive Community Centre donated the proceeds from a wonderful evening of Flanders and Swann songs and many of you supported collections we had at Honiton Leisure Centre and Honiton Tesco and the Mega Christmas Raffle organised by Graham and Sue Smith.
With all this activity, we have raised an amazing £7,000 so far, which will be sent to Dementia UK to be ring-fenced for Honiton. In addition to this, £5,000 has been sent by donors direct to Dementia UK for Honiton so that gives us a grand total of £12,000 towards an Admiral Nurse for Honiton.
This is absolutely fantastic and a great start to what will be an ongoing fundraising venture.
We have some great events in the pipeline for 2018 including ‘All at Sea with The Old Bull and Bush’ an evening of Sea Shanties in St Paul’s on Saturday, February 24, a charity art auction at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery on March 2 and a Devon Youth Jazz Orchestra Concert at the Beehive in May.
We believe that everyone who needs the support of a specialist dementia nurse should get one and that is why, with your help, we are working hard to have an Admiral Nurse in Honiton.
We would like to thank each and every one of you who have supported us so far and we are looking forward to working with more of you in the year ahead.
For details on how to get involved or to make a donation, you can contact me on 07966 135442 or email info@honitondaa.org.uk
For information about Dementia UK visit www.dementiauk.org
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