On a personal note

ON A PERSONAL, NOTE JUST FOR A CHANGE.......

7 years, 7 days a week, 7 Hours a day "Approx" Apart from sickness and holidays. (i am so lucky to have a very very understanding Angel by my side in Elaine )

Just figured out thats how long i have been working on the Purple Angel Dementia Campaign and its all the sevens !! And i wouldn't change a thing!!

This year has been so very hard for ALL with no exceptions or exaggerations, but sometimes there are some we forget to mention. By this i mean the volunteers and memory cafe members who have also had it so hard this year and because i started out on a personal note i will mention those at our very own incredible memory cafe here in Torbay.

We have/ had (possibly ) the busiest memory cafe in south devon with attendees averaginging 45 + per week before covid . There is no hierarchy, we are a TEAM and we all work together, in all my years in management i have always said this is the best team i have ever worked with and that includes those who live in different areas around the UK as well. Then COVID came along and NOTHING !! but we did much more than just the memory cafe, we organised regular coach trips out for the cafe members, charity nights, steam train rides, cream teas in garden centres and museum visits. All this needs organising behind the scenes, the artists needs to be booked, volunteers rotas so we can open. Coach firms, Garden centres and other businesses to be contacted, and usually, well, mostly by my darling wife Elaine, also Funds have to be raised, and on this point?????

I would just like to thank our secretary Jenny Temple for applying for a few grants here and there, such labour intensive work but so rewarding but we have to remember the vast majority of fundraising (Especially for the Mp3s ) have come from your wonderful generous selves and without that we would have really been struggling. That as well as 1000s of hours spent on the internet reminding all about donations and sharing the incredible feedback back from all very grateful families to show what their / your money is being spent on and every penny i may add without it coming out of Purple Angel Campaign funds.

Volunteers have had to go from hero to zero speed wise and have found themselves at a loss at what to do so they have struggled immensely as i know our volunteers would rather be busy than doing nothing. Then we come to our beautiful wonderful memory cafe members. We have been closed almost ten months now and because of the nature of the illness it upsets me to say we have lost some along the way, the thought of not seeing them again at their "usual table" is so upsetting. Also what about those who are still fighting this awful disease ? all those that looked forward so very much to their saturday afternoons of fun and frolics, song and dance and a good knees up. can you imagine the effect this coved has had on them ??

Yes, some of us have kept very busy as always with the MP3s etc but its not the only thing we do here in Torbay. We used to hold stalls at garden fetes, arrange transport for all to go to other fetes if they wishes to, we were all such very busy people. We still have to organise WRAD 2021 (please god let us have this ) and this includes 1000s of e mails to and fro to over 20+ countries around the world and care companies within the UK and i haven't even mentioned the amount of ZOOM meetings across the globe we have attended in the last ten months and virtual conferences!! That and the fact we became a charity this year as well PHEW !! LOL

BUT i have to admit, every now and then i have a wobble, i am, only human after all, someone once said if something happened to me then the Purple Angel would cease to exist!!

WHAT UTTER RUBBISH!!!!

The Purple Angel is a global concern and recognised in over 60+ countries with over 1,200 Purple Angel global ambassadors worldwide, it is a living breathing entity of good causes and incredible people all over the world who just want to help those with dementia. Yes its true there will come a time when i am no longer capable of doing the things i do now or spending as much time on it as i do now and i will hope others will step up . step forward and carry on where i left off with as much commitment, but the beauty of the Purple Angel is . it's not about one or two people being in charge, it's about everybody doing their bit, working as a team with just ONE AIM, to help those with dementia.

I wish i could remember all names that have helped through the years but i will mention my co founder Jane Moore Bridie Moorrehouse Jenny Temple Carol Haberfield Gilly Barton Ann Whelan her husband Steve, Lynn Bartrip-Kay Tony Hall Jean Saunders Mandie Giles HeatherCarolyn Starkings John Brennan and all wonderful members of the memory cafe here in Torbay

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