Great Gatsby star Carey Mulligan launches dementia Christmas campaign at Downing Street

Actress Carey Mulligan shared her memories of Christmas with her grandmother who has dementia, with Prime Minister David Cameron at Downing Street, launching a new campaign to help relatives spot and support loved ones with dementia over the festive season.

Carey Mulligan, star of upcoming blockbuster The Great Gatsby, spoke about spending Christmases with her grandmother ‘Nans’ while the Prime Minister shared a story about rushing son Ivan from hospital down to Devon in time for a family Christmas.

Ms Mulligan said: “My favourite Christmas memory is every Christmas we spent with my grandmother. She used to alternate between us and our cousins and every year we were lucky enough to have her was particularly precious.

“This Christmas we want people to tell us about their favourite Christmas memory - it can be funny, sad, silly or serious. Write a memory on a piece of paper, take a photo and tweet using #xmas2remember or comment at facebook.com/alzheimerssociety”.

The ‘Christmas to Remember’ campaign is being run by the , to encourage people returning home for Christmas to look out for signs that a loved one may be living with dementia. Awareness of the condition is particularly important during the festive season when people may be seeing relatives for the first time in months and notice changes in behaviour.

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive at Alzheimer’s Society said: “Christmas is a time when families who may not see each other all year come together. If you are worried about your own or a loved one’s memory or think they might have dementia it’s important to know that there is help and support available. This year you can follow advice and information on the internet or call our National Dementia Helpline. You can also give yourself the gift of becoming more dementia aware by registering your interest in becoming a dementia friend.

Prime Minister David Cameron launched the Dementia Challenge earlier this year. He said: “Dementia is one of the biggest challenges facing our population today which is why I launched the Dementia Challenge and am supporting the Dementia Friends project. There are already nearly 700,000 people in England with dementia who need support, but hundreds of thousands of them aren’t diagnosed and aren’t receiving the help they need.

“We may not want to think about dementia at Christmas time, but spotting the signs of dementia as soon as they start is the best way to help our friends and family keep the memories they make for as long as possible.

As part of the campaign, celebrities such as Lynda Bellingham and John Challis – Only Fools & Horses’ Boycie – will share their favourite Christmas memories on a Tumblr blog (http://xmas-to-remember.tumblr.com).

Both Carey Mulligan’s and the Prime Minister’s memories can also be found in full on the blog. People will be encouraged to share their favourite memories – whether good or bad, about a treasured present or Christmas dinner disaster – on Twitter using #xmas2remember. The Tumblr will include Alzheimer’s Society information on seeing relatives with dementia over Christmas, and ask people to register their interest in becoming a Dementia Friend. Dementia is caused by brain diseases which cause the brain to slowly shut down; the most common is Alzheimer’s. Symptoms to spot dementia include struggling to remember recent events, forgetting the names of friends or everyday objects or not being able to recall information you’ve read.

Calls to Alzheimer’s Society National Dementia Helpline increase by a third immediately after Christmas, many of these calls are from worried relatives. The number to call is 0300 222 1122.