CHILDREN at an after school club at Richmond's Midget Gems Childcare have qualified as Dementia Friends after a visit from the Alzheimer's Society. The childcare provider, rated as outstanding by Ofsted, in Parsons Court, Richmond, saw many of its after school club members receiving badges saying they were Dementia Friends, and are helping to change the way people think, talk and act about dementia.

The interactive session was led by Linda Haggie, services manager of the Alzheimer's Society based at Garget Walker House in Olav Road, Richmond.

Sarah Butler, owner and manager of Midget Gems Childcare, said: "We all had a great time, learning more about the brain and how it can become muddled and confused as we become older.

"The four to ten-year-old children talked about how someone with dementia would feel.

"They participated in an exercise passing a ball of wool to each other, which weaved an intricate pattern like inside our brain.

"Linda then used scissors to cut the wool to show how the message channels within our brains can break so people with dementia forget and become confused."