The 4RDA Blog
A Very Busy March - Parish Councils And Other Interested Parties
31/3/2025
Like February, March has continued to be busy!• Resulting from attending Shaugh Prior’s parish council meeting in early February, I wrote a piece for the March issue of the parish magazine about the work of 4RDA and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm. I also visited a local resident earlier on this month to provide a variety of dementia support information following a dementia diagnosis in the family. The parish council were going to consider the offer of support to work towards becoming a dementia friendly parish council but due to a number of other ongoing pressing priorities, they have put the offer of support onto their April meeting agenda for discussion.
• Following on from attending Ugborough’s parish council meeting (12/02/25), they have said they are very keen to take action, they have designated a councillor to take the lead on this and the plan is that he will move things forward after attending the next South Hams Dementia Forum meeting in Mid-April.
• I attended Ivybridge Town Council’s annual meeting (17/03/25) with an information stand, a variety of dementia friendly literature and spoke to residents and councillors about the work of both 4RDA and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm.
• After attending Ringmore’s parish council meeting (18/03/25), they have invited 4RDA to have an information stand at their summer fair in August and have requested information for their parish council website so their residents can be signposted for support.
• I attended Bickleigh Parish Council meeting (27/03/25) and shared the town and parish council information pack with the councillors. Following on from that, I have spoken to a local resident and provided a variety of dementia-related support information following a dementia diagnosis in the family. I will make contact with the parish council again after they have had time to consider the offer of support to work towards becoming dementia friendly.
• I attended Newton and Noss Parish council’s annual meeting (29/03/25) with an information stand and dementia friendly literature and spoke to residents and councillors present about 4RDA and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm.
Other parish council meetings booked:
• I had planned to attend Kingston Parish Council meeting (20/03/25) but due to maintenance work being carried out on the meeting venue, I have been asked to attend at the June meeting instead.
• Ermington -I have been invited to be guest speaker at the annual parish council meeting (06/05/25).
• Harford-I am booked to attend their parish council meeting (07/05/25)
• Sparkwell-I am booked to attend their parish council meeting (13/05/25)
Additionally:
• I wrote a piece for the April edition of IMAG about the work of 4RDA and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm. This local magazine is circulated to 8,700 people in Ivybridge and 12 surrounding communities, including Yealmpton, Ugborough, Ermington, Cornwood, South Brent, Sparkwell, Harford, Lee Mill, Bittaford, Moorhaven, Lutton and Wrangaton.
• I will be visiting Diptford (14/04/25) to carry out a dementia friendly building assessment on the village hall.
• There is a dementia wellbeing centre being set up in Kingsbridge and I have arranged with Suzi Garrod (CEO) to visit to offer support and advice around making the building dementia friendly (15/04/25).
• I have continued with researching community groups, businesses, schools, churches and other organisations to approach to offer support to become dementia friendly in the various parish areas.
• I will soon be making a start on creating working towards becoming dementia friendly information packs to share with various sectors e.g. Faith, retail, care, community groups, schools etc.
A Busy February With Parish Councils
24/2/2025
The past month has been quite a busy one!• The Four Rivers AGM took place on Monday 3rd February at which, I gave a short presentation about my role, what I have been working on to date and the various types of support that I can offer to parish and town councils and other organisations in the Four Rivers area.
• I attended Shaugh Prior’s parish council meeting (05/02/25) and agreed to follow up after they have considered working towards becoming dementia friendly at their next meeting. At the suggestion of the councillors, I wrote a piece for the March parish magazine to let people know about the work of Four Rivers and also Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm. It has been agreed that I will contribute articles on a quarterly basis to the magazine. I have also arranged to visit a local resident in early March to provide advice and information about support available after a dementia diagnosis.
• Building on some previous work done, I met with Cllr Guy Pannell and Susanne Archard again in South Brent (11/02/25) to discuss lending some more support to the village to become dementia friendly. This initially included liaising with signage companies to obtain quotes for the creation of dementia friendly signage for the village, which Cllr Pannell will take for discussion at a forthcoming parish council meeting. Other types of support for the future were also discussed at the meeting.
• I attended Ugborough Parish Council’s meeting (12/02/25) and agreed to follow up after they have considered working towards becoming dementia friendly at their next meeting.
Other parish council meetings booked:
• I had planned to attend Ringmore Parish Council's meeting (18/02/25) but they requested that I attend their March meeting instead.
• Ivybridge (17/03/25)-I have been invited to attend their annual town meeting on with an information stand and the opportunity to talk to residents and councillors about the work of Four Rivers and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm.
• Kingston (20/03/25)
• I had planned to attend Bickleigh Parish Council meeting (27/02/25) but this has been rescheduled to 27/03/25.
• Harford (07/05/23)
• Modbury-I heard back from the chair and at the moment they do not have a date arranged for a meeting of the dementia friendly working group they are planning as they are still currently in the process of organising and recruiting members.
• Following my attendance at Rattery Parish Council’ meeting in January, I have been advised that they were unfortunately unable to consider working towards becoming dementia friendly at their February meeting so it is on the agenda for their March one.
• I have continued with researching community groups, businesses, schools, churches and other organisations to approach to offer support to become dementia friendly in the various parish areas.
Progress to Date with Parish and Town Councils
28/1/2025
Just to keep you up to date with everything that is happening with my new role. We are still preparing the ground work but interest in what we are trying to achieve is growing from communicating with the parish councils in the 4RDA area.• Attended Rattery PC meeting (14/01/25) and agreed to follow up after they have considered it at their February meeting.
• Other parish council meetings booked:
Shaugh Prior (05/02/25)
Ugborough (12/02/25)
Ringmore (18/02/25)
Bickleigh (27/02/25 TBC)
Kingston (20/03/25)
Harford (07/05/23)
• Ivybridge -I have been invited to attend their annual town meeting on 17/03/25 to talk to residents and councillors about how the town can improve it’s work towards being dementia friendly.
• Modbury-I am waiting to hear back from the chair re: a date to attend a meeting of the dementia friendly working group they are planning.
• South Brent- I have previously supported Susanne Archard and Cllr Guy Pannell with a walk round of the village and advice on dementia friendly signage which a neighbourhood officer has now agreed and will be working on the design of. Currently awaiting a date for a meeting with Susanne to discuss lending some more support to South Brent to become dementia friendly.
• I have started researching community groups, businesses, schools, churches and other organisations to approach to offer support to become dementia friendly in the various parish areas.
• In a similar vein to the information pack for parish councils, I plan to work on developing some guides for other organisations wanting to work towards becoming dementia friendly e.g. retailers, churches, community groups, GP surgeries, schools etc and possibly develop window stickers/certificates for them.
