Dementia centre awarded lottery funding

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A meeting centre in North Herefordshire for people living with dementia and their care partners has received a major boost from the National Lottery.

Leominster Meeting Centre has been awarded £96,620 to support its work over the next three years.

The meeting centre was set up as part of a research project being conducted by the University of Worcester’s Association for Dementia Studies to assess the effectiveness of meeting centres in the UK. 

Meeting Centres are essentially social clubs where members and their care partners can enjoy the company of others in a community setting where they can relax, have fun, talk to others and get the help they need by participating in a variety of activities that address their emotional, cognitive and social requirements. This helps them to adjust to their changing needs and re-build their confidence and reduce anxiety over the future.

The funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will help provide more certainty and stability for the two Meeting Centres over the coming years.

The Leominster Meeting Centre is open each Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am to 3pm at The Old Priory in Leominster, Herefordshire.  Around 16 to 20 people attend each day, with some coming one day a week and others two, three or four times. It has become a vital part of the local community, welcoming many visitors and participating widely in local events and initiatives.

Joy Valentini, Manager of Leominster Meeting Centre, added: “I have been associated with the Meeting Centre from its early stages, both as a carer for my husband, who has dementia, and as Manager and a Trustee. The Meeting Centre changed our lives after his diagnosis, from feeling hopelessly isolated to giving us the support to feel confident and enjoy ourselves again. Two years ago I was given the opportunity to manage the day to day running of the Centre. I feel that my first-hand experience has given me the capability to help and support others facing a similar journey, and in the latter stages of my husband’s illness it has given me a new sense of fulfilment and pride in its success.”

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