A NORTH Yorkshire man is among the front-runners for a national award for his work to help those with Alzheimer’s.

Chris Riley, from Northallerton, is a finalist in the Dementia Friends Champion category at the annual Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Friendly Awards.

He was inspired to become a Dementia Friends Champion by helping to care for his late father-in-law Len and has since recruited more than 1,900 Dementia Friends.

Dementia Friends is social action movement that aims to give people an understanding of dementia and the small things that they can do that could make a difference to people living with the condition and build dementia friendly communities.

“Encouraging people and organisations to become dementia friendly is so important in the fight against the stigma that surrounds dementia and to help people with the condition to enjoy their lives for as long as possible by being able to do the things they've always enjoyed doing,” he said.

“I will continue to support any dementia awareness work both locally and nationally and I hope to get my own personal numbers of dementia friends recruited up to 2000 by Christmas."

Now in their third year, the 2016 awards have attracted the highest number of nominations to date, with 400 entries. Winners will be revealed at the end of November.