Walk with Me (#3)

A while ago Will, from the Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership (SSP), promised that he would organise, or facilitate others to organise, three events across Suffolk so that Peter and I could share our story to a larger audience. Will delivered on his promise and, although he is modest and shies away from praise and publicity I'm giving him some here.

Thanks to Will's Herculean tenacity, last year Peter and I 'performed' at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, followed by a 'gig' at The Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft. The third in the trilogy of talks took place at The Trades and Labour Club in Felixstowe on 20th October.

This event was organised by the SSP and the Felixstowe Integrated Neighbourhood Team (FINT) and sponsored by Leading Lives. I love this partnership working and all of the connections we are making as, not only does it epitomise the essence of who Peter is and the magnetic draw of his personality, it also shows the huge importance of social connections around people with memory impairment or Alzheimer's. I would like to give a special thanks to Nic Marsden from FINT who took on the bulk of the organising and publicity.

The performance was opened by Anthony Douglas (Independent Chair of the Adults Safeguarding Board) and he spoke about Suffolk's work around dementia and what Peter was doing to add to that work. Here's an interesting fact about Anthony...he sits very near me at the Emirates. Well, I found it interesting.

When we did this event in Lowestoft, Lesley Dolphin attended and spoke at the beginning and end of the performance. We were delighted that Lesley was able to attend this FINT event and to read three of Peter's poems (from his book, Walk with Me: Musings Through the Dementia Fog) to close the morning. I think this really had a huge impact on many of the attendees. Peter's words, coming from the heart and not the head, are poignant and every time I hear his poetry, I am moved.

So, to conclude: Will delivered on his promise to give us three large events in Suffolk, the partnership work continues to grow and more people have had access to Peter's words and to reshape how they view living well with Alzheimer's. And we were provided with top notch biscuits and muffins - hard to argue with the provision of such goodies nestling hand in hand with a receptive and appreciative audience.