Clearly one of my New Year’s resolutions must be to update this Blog more regularly! When I had my first Trustees meeting we agreed not to set any targets for the year as such and thought we would see how the year panned out. It has gone really well with me delivering 7 talks to different groups – already we have two more booked for next year and one PTA interested in booking us which could lead to many new contacts.
I have had the pleasure of speaking to the Women’s Catholic League Richmond, Mael Gael Community Centre Southall, the Mother’s Union Guildford, Age UK’s outreach team in Westbourne Park, the staff of the Tower of London (private tour of the crown jewels afterwards was a real bonus!), Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Cafe Hammersmith and Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Cafe Greenford (where my daughter made an impromptu appearance when the babysitter couldn’t make it – an early introduction to the joys of Lasting Powers of Attorney can only be a good thing…). I have also spoken to various people on the phone and via email.
Not only have the Trustees kept me motivated and encouraged but I must also thank the women of the Athena Network Twickenham who often keep me sane! They also offer brilliant advice, not least the woman who told me to change my original tagline which was ‘Training in dementia and the law’. I will never forget what she said: ‘Listen, no-one likes training, people fear the law and dementia is depressing’ So I changed the tagline to something a bit more positive!
For 2013 I hope that the training course I attended and the advice of Richmond CVS will help me to procure grants and sponsorship to increase our advertising capacity and perhaps, one day, pay me a salary. Either way, I am sure I will meet many more amazing people with dementia, their carers and professionals and am looking forward to it,
Sara