Serving up help for dementia

The co-ordinator of a new café for people with dementia or memory loss, and those caring for them, has said its first day was an afternoon well-spent.

The Memory Café opened for the first time, at The Bridge Community Centre on Lincoln Road in Newark.

Co-ordinator Pam Hall was asked to set up the café by the Vicar of Newark, the Rev David Pickersgill.

“I was told to prepare for nobody to turn up but we had two people with quite severe dementia, and their carers,” she said.

“The carers that came didn’t know each other, but they both said that it was so nice to have a bit of a break and talk to other people in the same situation.

“All the volunteers came along and I think it was an afternoon well-spent.”

The cafe is open on Tuesday afternoons, from 2pm to 4pm, until November 20. It will resume on January 8. There is no charge.

Cakes are being provided free every week by Bakkavor of Newark.

About a dozen volunteers help run the café, where they make drinks, serve refreshments, chat with guests and play table-top games such as dominoes or snakes and ladders.