National Lottery grant of over £360,000 has saved a Manchester charity which supports people living with dementia and carers from potential closure.
Together Dementia Support, whose staff and army ofvolunteers work with 1,000 people a year across the city region, has been awarded £366,827 by the National Lottery Community Fund.
The funding over three years will enable it to continue providing its services and to expand to meet growing demand.
The charity, which is based at the Kath Locke Centre on Moss Lane East in Moss Side, runs a host of weekly social activities at venues across the city for people with dementia and their carers.
These include friendship and stimulating activity sessions where people can be creative and have fun in a safe and relaxed environment, enjoying music, games, baking, park walks and other forms of gentle exercise, cognitive stimulation and more. It also has two choirs and runs day trips.
The charity has two minibuses to take people to and from its groups, driven by volunteers or staff.
Around 100 other volunteers visit the homes of people with dementia who find it difficult to get out to provide similar activities on a one-to-one basis, or support the activity groups.
The charity also offers befriending sessions for physically active people with dementia who want to go for a walk, shopping or to visit local venues.
Its support for family carers includes free training as well as information, guidance, advocacy and micro-respite opportunities, plus dementia cafés and other social events to help reduce the isolation and loneliness of the carer journeyand provide peer support.
Together Dementia Support’s carer community is made up of people from all walks of life, both retired and in work, who are the husbands, wives, partners, adult children and other relatives of those diagnosed.
Chief executive Sally Ferris, who founded the charity in 2014, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured a third award from the National Lottery. Without its support we would have been looking at closure, which would have left people completely isolated. The National Lottery has saved the day, as the need for our services is greater than ever and is only going to increase. Diagnosis rates are going up, and more and more families are struggling to cope with the impact of dementia on their lives.
“The grant will really strengthen and improve our provision of essential community services and will enable us to grow so more people can benefit.
“With our future more secure we can develop new work, help sustain a better quality of life for more people living with dementia and their carers, and amplify their voices. We are relied upon for urgent advice and help by hundreds of unpaid dementia carers across Manchester and beyond.”
As well as paving the way for more carer training and activities, the funding will support existing roles among the charity’s 13-strong workforce and a new post of operations and data manager.
Sally set up the charity as a small organisation of volunteers after working in the NHS and adult social care and for more than 15 years in the field of dementia.
She said: “We believe that Together Dementia Support makes a huge difference to the quality of life and wellbeing of people living with dementia and their carers, by filling an enormous gap in the post-diagnosis support available to families for the whole of the journey.”
The positive impact of Together Dementia Support is summed up by Nora (not her real name), who cares for her mum.
She said: “This charity’s work is invaluable. If it were not for TDS, we’d be in a world of pain. There’s someone to guide you through the problems and challenges. I can ring for advice, support and to ask questions. We deal with real humans who empathise. They know what you’re going through and genuinely care. We’d be lost without them.”
Together Dementia Support currently receives 300 new referrals each year. Each individual referred to the charity isassessed at home and offered opportunities that match their interests, abilities and mobility needs.
The charity works in partnership with other organisations, including Dementia United, the Carers Manchester networkand many NHS, social care and research bodies.
Sally said this close collaboration in service provision, such as that offered to South Asian communities, is vital in closing gaps in post-diagnosis support.
In addition to the National Lottery grant, Together Dementia Support is stepping up its other fundraising activities. These include supporters taking part in the Manchester Marathon, the 10K Great Manchester Run, the Great North Swim, the Derbyshire Three Peaks Challenge, abseiling and more, and attracting financial support from companies and other organisations across the region.
