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We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Cowes Golf Club has chosen Alzheimer Café Isle of Wight to be their Charity of the Year 2023/24! The club explained that one of their long-time members is living with dementia and that he and his wife are regular visitors of Alzheimer Café Isle of Wight. We are so pleased that we are able to support as many people as we do, and that with the help of people like Cowes Golf Club, we can continue to help our community. Thank you again to Cowes Golf Club – we really are honoured to be nominated as your Charity of the Year!  On Friday September 29th we were thrilled to welcome England’s Chief Medical Officer Prof Sir Chris Whitty to Parklands! Professor Whitty visited the Island to understand the public health challenges being faced here, and during his visit came to Parklands for a tour of the building and to learn about our big plans for the building. We had a lovely time talking to Professor Whitty and would like to thank him and his team for taking the time to talk to us find out all about our exciting project.  Visiting a family member in a care home can be an emotional experience. It can, of course, bring lots of happiness and joy but it can also be extremely tough. Seeing your loved one in a setting that isn’t their home, with lots of potentially poorly people around them can really take its toll and leave you with lots of difficult emotions to process.
PLEASE NOTE: EAST COWES CAFÉ IS CANCELLED TOMORROW DUE TO ILLNESS. There will be NO CAFÉ in East Cowes tomorrow but the next East Cowes Alzheimer Café will take place as usual in the Town Hall on Tuesday 7 November at 2PM.  We wanted to say a huge thank you to all of our volunteers and to those who came to support us over the past few days. On Thursday we had our quiz night which was lots of fun and raised over £600! Our ‘bit of everything’ sale which we hosted on Saturday at Parklands made over £250, plus we received over £20 in small change in our donation box at the sale. The amount of work our team of volunteers put into these events is incredible, and without them and all of you, we wouldn’t be able to keep doing what we’re doing, so thank you! Keep checking our ‘What’s On’ page for upcoming events! Our goal is to create an 8ft x 10ft mosaic masterpiece of our logo for the back wall of our Alzheimer Café at Parklands! And we need about 2000 photos to do it! Want to be part of this incredible project? It's as easy as 1-2-3:
The best part? Every penny from our mosaic wall will go directly back into our Parklands project! Let's build memories, one photo at a time. Together, we can make our Daily Café truly special. Order now!  You may have heard of a ‘green space’ i.e a garden, a meadow, or a forest, but recently the term "blue space" has gained traction, and for good reason. So, what exactly is a blue space, and how does it benefit our mental well-being? We’ve taken a closer look at the remarkable ways in which blue spaces can positively impact our mental health.
Read on to find out more about blue spaces. We just had a fantastic update from our friends Simon and Steve who swam the Arctic Circle to raise money for Alzheimer Cafe Isle of Wight! "Success! Sorry its a little late as been too shattered to update as it was pretty full on. Really pleased to have managed the full house:
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY Achieved our fundraising goal! So to everyone who helped along the way. We'll be super chuffed to hand a big fat cheque over after we get back tomorrow evening." An absolutely HUGE thank you to Simon and Steve who raised an amazing amount of money for Alzheimer Cafe Isle of Wight! We are so grateful to have friends like you! By Barry JackmanI recognise the passion with which people address their concerns. When I was launched into the world of dementia care I made the assumption that NHS/Adult Social Care would be there to help and what a shock to find that I was on my own. Until that point, we were a hardworking couple who never had the need to seek support and were looking towards a long retirement. That didn't work out as planned and it was only a chance remark by a former colleague that steered me towards an Alzheimer Café where I discovered many of the answers to my questions and a body of people who understood my situation. It was then I realised I was not on my own and by working within a group, change for the better became a possibility.  Dementia is difficult for most of us to understand, so explaining a disease that affects many people in many different ways to a child might feel a little overwhelming. The thing is, however, children ask questions, and they notice things, and their cogs are always turning, so when someone they know and love has dementia, it’s important to have honest conversations about what’s going on and what might happen next.
Being upfront can feel scary as our natural impulse is to protect our children at all costs, but by talking to them about what’s going on, we can include them in part of the journey rather than leaving them behind. Read on for some tips and advice on how to talk to children about dementia, and some resources that might help. |
