Apr 23, 2024
Seven years ago on a gloomy Monday morning I went to see a group of dancers rehearsing in a nondescript portacabin in south-west London. So far, so very inauspicious. And yet I saw magic happen that day. Now, through the alchemy of creative art –the skilful...
Feb 23, 2024
Dear Wendy Thank you for being you, for using your character and innate kindness, your gentle voice, your fluent, wise and wonderful words to raise awareness of living, and dying, with dementia. You were my hero (or heroine). I hope you know that. Though I...
Nov 30, 2022
Sage House dementia hub is under ten minutes away from my home in West Sussex. As soon as neighbours heard that I had an interest in the condition they kept telling me to visit it, and one sunny afternoon a year or so ago I popped along. I wasn’t disappointed. The...
Oct 27, 2022
I never met Suzy Webster’s mum but in a strange way I knew her through her daughter, and when I heard that Barbara had died I experienced a deep sense of sadness. I asked Suzy if I could write something to honour her mum, though as I sit here in front of my laptop I...
Oct 19, 2022
When Dame Barbara Windsor died in the dark Covid days of December 2020 the nation mourned the loss of not just an immensely talented and likeable actress, but a friend. We felt we knew this pocket dynamo, through her countless appearances, from her early days in the...
Nov 11, 2021
It’s not every day you see a former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer washing someone’s feet. In this case it’s Ed Balls, on his knees soaping the toes of 94-year-old Phyllis and asking her if she likes the water warm or hot, and what sort of dancing she used to do....
Oct 1, 2021
It was my husband’s idea. He was having a marquee erected in the garden one weekend for a Saturday event he was hosting and suggested I use it on the Friday evening for a cause close to my heart. It took me less than a minute to decide that we would hold a...
May 21, 2021
Like the best-selling author Wendy Mitchell, I’m not a great believer in awareness weeks, whatever they’re for. Those with dementia live it every minute of every day of every week of every month of every year, not one week of the year. Yes, focussed weeks provide a...
Feb 22, 2021
“She doesn’t understand It breaks my heart As if someone pulled my heart out It’s heart wrenching It’s how she puts her hand to the window”. A few lines which, just a year ago, would have been sad, but abstract and inscrutable. Now, the last line tells us all we need...
Dec 11, 2020
I woke up this morning to the news that Dame Barbara Windsor has died aged 83. She was a national treasure. And never more did this petite figure with the big heart and the golden smile live up to the accolade than when, in her final years, she let the world know...
