“It just shows that people with dementia can go out on the boats and have a great time.” Age UK Salford’s annual boat race

The Age UK Salford branch hosted their annual Boat Race to raise awareness for dementia on World Alzheimers Day.

The day saw dementia services and charities from across Salford compete in a boat race to win a trophy and raise awareness of the condition.

Each team donated money towards their boat and had family members and staff members involved in their team.

Emma, the organiser of the event spoke about what the annual boat race does for those living with dementia: “We just try and make it a really fun day for families and we are trying to challenge some of the stigma around dementia.

“We have people in the boats who are living with dementia and their families are here cheering them on.

“It just shows that people with dementia can go out and go out on the boats and have a great time.”

Stalls were also set up down at Salford Quays to inform people on dementia and to raise money for Age UK.

On one of those stalls was Aspire who support people with disabilities, old people and those with dementia.

Paula from Aspire spoke about why they were here today and about their boat in the race: “Each year we have a boat, we love to support the event and we have a gentleman in our boat who has dementia who will be rowing.

“We are also here to support Age UK and support those in the Salford Voluntary Care Organisations.”

There were other stalls at the boat race including, Age UK, Soroptimist International, Salford Institute of Dementia and Empowered Conversations.

Salford Institue for Dementia spoke about what they do: “We support families who are impacted by dementia and we have a variety of services and groups.

“We make sure that those suffering with dementia are at the heart of our project and we have brought some ladies along who are suffering from dementia here with us today.”

Age UK had their own stall which included the blank Cadburys chocolate bar which is sold in supermarkets to raise money for Age UK.

People left messages for those who they knew were suffering from dementia and posted it onto the chocolate bar.

The boat race included 10 teams from Salford, some determined to win this year.

Lucy is a nurse at Salford Royal and was taking part in the boat race and she spoke about the day: “We are trying to raise money for a relatives bed on the ward and for the Alzheimers Society.”

The final two teams to compete for the trophy were both Age UK teams, Titanic 2 and In Deep Ship.

Watch Titanic 2 win the race here!