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Café celebrates 1st birthday

Published: 08/08/2016

Volunteers kicked off celebrations as Holywell’s Memory Café marked a year since it opened. At that time, the café, in the Artisan Shop in Holywell, was one of only three in the county. Flintshire now boasts seven cafés, with more planned in the future. Memory Cafés help people living with memory loss (diagnosed or undiagnosed) and their carers. They are a place to get free support and advice and to socialise and participate in organised activities and receive talks from health care professionals. The celebrations took on a seaside theme and everyone enjoyed a buffet and party games, including musical bingo. At the party were Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Social Services, Councillor Christine Jones, the Mayor and Mayoress of Holywell, Councillor J M Johnson and Mrs Johnson with Cllr Johnson’s mother, Gladys, who played the organ so everyone could join in the seaside singalong. Councillor Johnson said: “This café is vitally important in our efforts to raise awareness of dementia and I’m pleased to see so many people attending and enjoying the session. I’m proud to be a Dementia Friend and I would recommend everyone to gain a better understanding of dementia.” Councillor Christine Jones said: Memory cafés are a great idea and a great way of getting people living with dementia and their carers together socially as well as providing professional help and advice. It’s an informal meeting place and there’s no need for a referral as it’s a drop-in group. This is an issue which is at the forefront of our policies for adult social care and we will be aiming to open more Dementia Cafés across all areas of the County.” The Café is open every other Friday from 1.30-3.30pm at the Artisan Shop, 49-51 High Street, Holywell. The organisers wish to thank Tesco for providing the refreshments. For more information on this and other memory cafés in Flintshire, contact Luke Pickering-Jones on 01352 702655 or Luke.Pickering-jones@flintshire.gov.uk. Cllr Christine Jones, Cllr Johnson and Lynda Carter from Tesco along with Helen Hughes and Sian Lewis and members of the Flintshire Social Services Team enjoy celebrating with the service users and their carers.