2022's dementia remembrance service

A Salford care provider will be hosting its annual service of remembrance for those who died or are living with dementia.

The annual service will be held in Swinton on December 12 and will hope to gather friends and loved ones lost to dementia.

The service will be hosted by the non-profit organisation Aspire at the Humphrey Booth Resource Centre on Worsley Road, Swinton.

Infographic made by meThe evening is open to everyone in the community affected by dementia, not just those who use Aspire’s services, and attendees will be welcomed to enjoy festive live music.

Guests will enjoy a performance from singer Michelle Lee, accompanied by mince pies and refreshments in the dementia friendly ‘Forget Me Not’ café’.

They will create baubles personalised with heartfelt messages or their own items such as photographs, to place on a remembrance tree which will be lit during the ceremony.

A suggested donation of £5 per remembrance bauble will be encouraged to help raise proceeds for well-being activities at Poppy Dementia Support, based at the Humphrey Booth centre.

Leanne Taylor, Aspire’s communication and engagement manager, and the organiser of the event, said: “We appreciate that Christmas is quite a lonely time for people that have lost somebody to dementia.

“It can be quite an upsetting time, but we wanted to give people an opportunity to come together to reflect on the happier times that they’ve enjoyed, Christmases passed, and to just be together with other people that have been through a similar situation.

“It is vital for them to take a little bit of time, over the festive period, to stop and to think about that person that they’ve lost, or perhaps the person that they are supporting, that no longer feels the same joy in Christmas as they may have done.”

The Forget Me Not Café will be open from 5pm, with the service commencing at 6pm outside by the remembrance tree, in the grounds of the Humphrey Booth Centre.

Entry to the service is free and open to all who wish to remember a loved one, regardless of why they are no longer with us.

Aspire for Intelligent Care and Support specialises in supporting people in Salford and the surrounding areas who are living with dementia, complex health needs and learning disabilities.

It offers a wide range of services including respite care and supported living, as well as community and carer support through six community hubs dotted around the city.

For more information regarding the event or Aspire’s services, contact 0161 607 7101, or email aspire@iamaspire.org.uk

Photography Credit: Steve Hayles

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