AN entertainment venue has launched dementia friendly screenings and is looking to increase their frequency.

The special screenings currently take place bi-monthly at The Forum in Northallerton but it is hoped that they will soon be staged once a month.

The screenings are aimed at people who live with Alzheimer’s and enable them, along with their loved ones and carers, to enjoy a film in a relaxed setting, but all are welcome to attend.

There is also an interval where volunteers serve complimentary tea and coffee.

The first two screenings, Calamity Jane and Singing in the Rain, have proved to be a success and Forum manager Anita Lee said that they have led to some ‘lovely feedback’.

The next showing will be The King and I on October 16 at 2pm.

Dementia friendly cinema screenings are welcomed by the Alzheimer’s Society which conducted research that found that 69 per cent of people with dementia said that the main reason they stop going out is a lack of confidence.