Another Georgina has been in touch recently. Georgina Whiting is a beauty therapist who has opened a new practice in Writtle, and she has recently donated half the proceeds of a recent ‘Pamper Evening’ to Essex Dementia Care. Georgina is experiencing dementia in her own family, and we have been very touched by this kind gesture. We perhaps should also say here that if anyone out there wants a little pampering themselves and lives in the Chelmsford/Writtle area, Georgina would be glad to hear from you. You can contact her at www.beautybygeorgina.com or georgina@beautybygeorgina.com. Her tel no is 01245 422244 or 07852 317290.

November 1^st saw the opening of a new venture for Essex Dementia Care – a drop-in centre for carers and cared-for in Braintree (details coming – new page under construction). We have wanted for some time to offer a service which complements our existing one-to-one support and which can respond more flexibly to the needs of our families.

The opening saw lots of friends and associates joining us for the day. April Lawlor, one of our trustees, formally opened the centre describing how this new endeavour sits within the broader scheme of local and national dementia care developments. Nick Forsyth and Sean Weigand from Lambert Chapman made a formal presentation of their donation, as did Vicky Weavers, who is proving a kind and enthusiastic champion of our cause.

It was good to have the Braintree and Witham Times there; they got the message slightly wrong, omitting to mention that the centre is for those with dementia as well as their carers, but otherwise gave us a good write-up and photo.

We are delighted to welcome Georgina (usually known as George) White to join the team. George started her care career in Sussex where she is originally from. She has many years experience of working in care settings for older people and people with dementia. She will be working with us two days a week initially, but we hope to be seeing more of her as we continue to grow.

Our accountants Lambert Chapman also adopted us as their chosen charity this year. Lambert Chapman has a long history of charitable giving, donating the proceeds of a cricket match in the summer and a quiz evening in the autumn. The cricket match (between Braintree Tradesmen and Police) raised the wonderful sum of £2092 this year. The quiz evening attracted a number of teams (not least of which was one from Essex Dementia Care which, dare we say it, came last and won the wooden spoon!) and raised £825. Again, most of the contributors to this amazing gift are unknown to us, but we thank them all for their kindness and generosity.

It has been a privilege to support Vicky’s mother-in-law over the last three years, so we were bowled over when Vicky rang to tell us that she was asking friends and family for donations to Essex Dementia Care rather than personal gifts at her 25^th wedding anniversary celebrations recently. This kind gesture raised an extraordinary £675. Thank you to all those who contributed, and especially Vicky, for all your thoughtfulness. And congratulations on your 25 years!

We are indebted to Essex County Council for two grants received in August to support the continued development and extension of our services. The first is a grant which will enable us to set up a volunteer programme to support our core services in mid-Essex. We plan to build a bank of volunteers whose skills, qualities and passions we can draw upon to consolidate and enrich our existing work. The second grant is to enable us to extend our service into south-east Essex. We have numerous contacts in this area and an increasing number of enquiries. There is therefore some urgency about establishing a base and an outreach across Southend, Castle Point and Rochford in order to kickstart the service in these areas. Watch this space!

This has been an extraordinary autumn. In September 2009, Christchurch URC in Braintree adopted us as their chosen charity of the year. Debbie and Tessa went to the church to talk to the members, some of whom took church collecting boxes and have been gradually adding to them over the course of the year. We hadn’t realised that 12 months had slipped by, and were therefore taken aback (but very touched) to receive a cheque for £600. We are unlikely ever to know who gave, but we want to extend our grateful thanks to all church members who so generously contributed.

We are very pleased to welcome Kelly Bleasdale onto the practitioner team. Kelly comes to us with eight years experience at a senior level in a care home for older people and people with dementia. It’s good to have her expertise on board. You can find out more on the Meet the Team page.

Our relationship with UnLtd develops. UnLtd – also known as the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs – is a charity set up in 2000 to support social enterprise initiatives. It’s a good name; the business support and direction and ideas that are coming our way feel unlimited. At the award celebration earlier in the month, management consultants McKinsey & Co expressed an interest in supporting Essex Dementia Care. Later, we had our first meeting with Jo Hill our development manager. Very impressive – it helped us to clarify our strengths and weaknesses, priorities and goals. Jo is now establishing a formal link with McKinsey to undertake some financial modelling with us and approaching another company to assist with our fund-raising. UnLtd also think that they might be able to find us a much needed treasurer, and further support in marketing and team-building is to follow after priorities are addressed. Amazing! Thank you UnLtd.

We are pleased to announce that we have been successful in securing two grants for the coming year. We are indebted to Essex County Council for supporting our work in the Braintree area, thus enabling us to offer one free session per week over the course of the year to a number of Braintree residents. We have also received an award from the funding body UnLtd, which comes together with a substantial package of business development support for one year. We are really bowled over by this, which couldn’t have come at a better time as we are starting to experience an unprecedented surge of growth. Thank you UnLtd! We are really looking forward to working with you and learning from you in the months to come.

In addition, we do not want to forget smaller, but no less appreciated gifts which have come our way recently. A most generous gift from a colleague has enabled us to get this website up and running; we were very touched too, by a gift from the family of one of our clients who recently passed away. A heartfelt thank you to all, for helping us on our way.

Bored to death! Have you heard the expression? There’s a lot of truth in it. We have probably all used it on occasion without fully appreciating the truth that lies behind it. The truth, as healthcare research has demonstrated over recent years, is that engaging in meaningful activity is vital for maintaining physical and psychological health and well-being across the lifespan. We also know that people who stop engaging in activity for reasons perhaps of sickness, disability or unemployment, can very quickly become ill, distressed, depressed or disturbed. Being healthy is about being active. Essex Dementia Care exists to promote good health through an active life and to support people who have dementia to maintain the kind of lifestyle they wish.