A TEESDALE town is hoping to achieve dementia friendly status.

Residents and businesses in Barnard Castle have been working towards becoming a Dementia Friendly Town for more than a year now after the town council teamed up with the Alzheimer’s Society.

The town’s first dementia cafe will open in St Mary’s Parish Hall, on May 20, during National Dementia Awareness Week.

The cafe will offer activities and advice for both those with dementia and their family and carers while a special event at The Bowes Museum will also be held to gather stakeholders together on the same day.

The council is currently in the process of training all its staff and councillors to become dementia friendly while the town already has several activities aimed at people living with the condition, including swimming and Games for the Brain and Singing for the Brain sessions.

The town also has a resident Dementia Friends Champion, Iris Hillery, who runs sessions to help people understand the condition.

In order to gain the status, the town must fulfil ten action points which includes areas like involving people living with dementia in the community and challenging any stigma towards them.

Andrew ball, Dementia Action Alliance Project Manager for the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “A dementia-friendly community is one that somebody living with dementia can remain actively involved in for as long as possible, whether this is attending church, going to the hairdressers, local shops or cinema.

“By becoming more dementia-friendly, businesses or organisations introduce small changes that make it easier for people with dementia to continue doing things they want to.

“Barnard Castle has taken great steps over the last year in its quest to become dementia-friendly and I hope I can support the town as much as possible as it looks to continue this work.”

Barnard Castle Town Councillor, John Yarker, who was diagnosed with dementia two years ago, said the town was already dementia friendly in his eyes.

The RAF veteran said he only noticed something was wrong when he could not remember how to tie his RAF tie for council meetings and after being sent to see a specialist, doctors found the left side of his brain had shut down.

“I have had it for two years now and the support for it in this town is fantastic – the community have been very good to me,” he said.

To find out more about dementia visit alzheimers.org.uk