Golf club raises thousands for Young@Heart

The golf club’s 2018 Club Captain Doug Christie and Ladies Captain Barbara Dulson led the challenge to raise the money for the charity and presented the cheque to Maria Collins and Christine Boyd, co-founders of Young@Heart.

Doug said: “I have personal family knowledge about the impact of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, so it is very close to the heart for me. Young@Heart is a fantastic and very deserving cause for the work the volunteers do in the community for people living with dementia and their families and carers. They need the money to set up a film club to watch dementia friendly movies and to fund other activities for guests.”

The money was raised from donations, raffles, collection boxes at the club and golf and social events.

Maria said: “We are extremely grateful to South Beds Golf Club for this amazing support. We are in the process of setting up a film club and audio visual equipment is very expensive, so this will go a long way indeed. This will enable us to provide another activity to our café programme.

“Many people know the benefits of music in connecting people with their memories but this is also true of films. Vintage films have a special power to connect people with dementia to their old selves. We expect our guests living with dementia to benefit from reminiscing about films they have seen and in turn, stimulate conversations with their carers and our volunteers.”

Young@Heart dementia cafe opens every Wednesday, at St John’s Parish Centre, Luton, from 2pm till 4pm.