IT was a full house for February’s Dementia Friends session as numbers continue to rise at the Right at Home offices in Farnham.

The session was hosted by Dementia Friends Champion Alastair Shanks who has now trained more than 500 Dementia Friends in and around Farnham.

Guests included family carers, care professionals as well as those just interested in understanding what it is like living with dementia.

The sessions are an Alzheimer’s Society initiative, supported by household names such as Amanda Holden, Ruth Jones and Paul O’Grady to educate people about dementia and demystify some of the myths surrounding the disease.

Alastair commented: “Farnham is fast becoming a dementia friend community and I’m receiving more and more requests to run these free sessions for private groups.”

Farnham Maltings is also very active in supporting not just those living with dementia but also their carers.

As well as the longstanding ‘Singing for the Brain’ sessions, it also runs monthly craft sessions for people to come to with (or in memory of) their loved ones, to work with artist Stacey Allan to create keepsake boxes.

The Maltings is running a new event, Care for Carers, taking place on the evening of March 14, when Sophie Russell (National, RSC) will be running a drama-based workshop for both family and professional carers to explore how an actor’s tricks of the trade can make a real difference in a care setting.

The event is sponsored by Right at Home which itself offers the Dementia Delay Programme, a research-based programme of care designed to delay the progression of dementia.

Alastair continued: “There is so much going on in Farnham, not just for those living with dementia but also their carers and we’re very proud to be a part of it.”

Anyone wanting to book a free place on the next Dementia Friends event or find out more about any of the events mentioned should visit the website www.righ

tathomegf.co.uk or call 01252 783426.