Specialists from Harrison Clark Rickerbys, who support older and vulnerable people, their families and carers, will be helping to promote understanding of dementia at events in Herefordshire next week with talks and advice in Ross-on-Wye, Ledbury and Hereford.

For national Dementia Awareness Week, Phillipa Bruce-Kerr, who heads the team and is herself a Dementia Friends Champion, will be presenting the Dementia Friends information sessions at the Master’s House in Ledbury from 10am-11am on Thursday May 19th. Alice Timbrell, one of her colleagues, will present a session at Overross House in Ross-on-Wye at 9.30 am that day. Phillipa and other team members will then take part in the Remember Me event at the Courtyard Theatre, Hereford, until 3pm. The day will be rounded off with an information session at Malvern St James’ School sports centre; whose charity of the year supports those living with dementia.

The sessions focus on giving straightforward information about dementia, its effects, and how those living with it can be helped and supported to lead independent lives; they will include advice on where to find help of all kinds. They aim to create a growing number of Dementia Friends; people who understand more about the condition and want to support those who live with it.

Phillipa said: “When people understand that many people live independently and live well with dementia, albeit with some support within their community, dementia becomes much less alarming. One in fourteen people over 65 have dementia, so most people will know someone who has it or has had it – it is a growing issue as our society ages, and we can do so much to make people’s lives better in very simple ways.”

Because dementia can affect memory, sight and perception, communication, sequencing skills and emotional control, the sessions, along with the training which Phillipa and her team are spreading through the firm, are vital in helping to smooth the path of those living with dementia. As one trainee said: “If you understand that someone’s manner is affected by their search for the right word or their fear of not quite knowing where they are, it is much easier to be kind and patient.”

Information sessions have already taken place in the firm’s Wye Valley and Hereford offices which are both now officially Dementia Friends Organisations.

Harrison Clark Rickerbys has 400 staff and partners based at offices in Cheltenham, the Wye Valley, Hereford, Worcester, Birmingham and the Thames Valley, who provide a complete spectrum of legal services to both business and private clients, regionally and nationwide. The firm also has a number of highly successful teams specialising in individual market sectors, including health and social care, education, agricultural and rural affairs, defence, security and the forces, and construction.