People living in Peasedown St John are being given another opportunity to find out more about dementia, thanks to a free information workshop.

Dementia Friendly Peasedown organises regular sessions for the public to take part in.

Gavin Heathcote, Chairman of the Peasedown Community Trust (the local charity that runs the Dementia Friendly Peasedown initiative) said:

"There are currently 850,000 people in the UK living with dementia, and that figure is set to rise to 2 million by 2050.

One in four people will be affected by dementia in their lifetimes, especially those diagnosed with clinical anxiety in middle age, which is why it's important to work with individuals and their families to try and make life much easier for those who have it.

Furthermore, figures released by the Alzheimer's Society show that dementia was the most common pre-existing condition in those that have died from Covid. Of all the Covid deaths in England and Wales, 25% of those that sadly passed away had dementia."

The next free Dementia Friendly Workshop will be held at St John's Church, Church Road (BA2 8AA) on Tuesday 27th September at 7pm.

Cllr Karen Walker (Peasedown, Independent) added:

"The Trust wants to engage with as many people as possible over the next year and make them aware of dementia, and how we as a community can support those who live with it.

As well as hosting these dementia information workshops, we've recently delivered another 1,000 copies of our 'Guide to Dementia in Peasedown' leaflet to homes in Peasedown – keeping them informed of what services are available locally"

To sign up for the Dementia Awareness Workshop Tuesday 27th September email the Peasedown Community Trust at [email protected].

Gavin Heathcote from the Peasedown Community Trust, along with Cllrs Karen Walker and Sarah Bevan want as many residents as possible to attend one of their dementia awareness workshops over the next year.

Currently:

• There are 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, with numbers set to rise to over 1 million by 2025. This will soar to 2 million by 2051.

• 225,000 will develop dementia this year, that's one every three minutes.

• 1 in 6 people over the age of 80 have dementia.

• 70 per cent of people in care homes have dementia or severe memory problems.

• There are over 40,000 people under 65 with dementia in the UK.

• More than 25,000 people from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups in the UK are affected.