Dementia volunteers in Hereford focus on 'access to the arts'

Herefordshire’s ‘Centre for the Arts’, The Courtyard, has been successful in securing the contribution of an Alzheimer’s Society’s William Brooks Award winner, who will work as an arts & older people’s project coordinator in order to enable the county’s older people easier access to the arts.

Volunteer worker Alice Saunders , who received the award for ‘significant impact in under 12 months’ said of the honour that “It was particularly poignant as my Nan, who had Alzheimer’s, had just passed away.”

Ms Saunders has already managed her first community event in Hereford, in the shape of the interactive crowd-driven piece ‘Remember Me’, which invited members of the public with an interest in dementia to contribute to artwork while learning more about the challenges adults with a declining cognitive ability face.

Previous work includes leading roles with community events at the West-Ox Arts Centre and marketing and progression work with the Hereford College of Arts, while Ms Saunders, whose father is also diagnosed with memory loss, also has her own portfolio of dementia-inspired illustrations.

Current projects Ms Saunders will work on include a dementia poetry project, supported by John Killick, as well as Extend dance classes that focus on movement and expression in residential homes, while The Courtyard’s team is keen to see more events and initiatives involving volunteers working on a one-to-one basis with older people.

The Courtyard has also announced plans to offer a range of community-focused education projects, in order to reach out to members of the community who find leading ordinary lives a challenge. In embracing her new role with the team Ms Saunders says: “I think I'm the luckiest person in the world, as it seems it was made for me.”