Two London charities have been awarded funding totalling nearly £200,000 for services to support older people with dementia, during Alzheimers awareness month this September.

City Bridge Trust, the City of London Corporation’s charitable arm, has awarded Dementia Concern £82,000 and Age UK Hillingdon, Harrow and Brent £114,780 to improve the lives of people living with dementia across the capital.

Dementia Concern will use the grant to fund its Community Support Service for people living alone with dementia in Ealing. The programme will support service users to live a better quality of life, continue to live independently, feel safer and increase community connections to reduce feelings of isolation. The service will work with 70 people every year.

Age UK Hillingdon, Harrow and Brent will use the funds to deliver a programme of Cognitive Stimulation Therapy to people with a recent diagnosis of mild to moderate dementia, and their carers, in Hillingdon. Cognitive Stimulation Therapy is a programme of themed activities, carried out over several weeks in small groups, with each session covering a different topic, designed to improve the mental abilities and memory of someone with dementia . Each session will focus on a different theme such as childhood, food, music and news. The charity believes Hillingdon has a higher than average proportion of older people and there is currently no structured support for those with mild to moderate dementia. A grant would help fill a gap in services and address the high demand for support.

 Alison Gowman, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee, commented:

“During Alzheimer’s awareness month we are raising awareness and challenging the stigma that surrounds dementia.

“This funding will allow these two life-changing charities to boost the support services on offer for people living with dementia at different stages.

“City Bridge Trust is committed to making London a fairer place to work and live.”

Roger Beckett, Finance Manager at Dementia Concern, added:

“This money will fund the role of a full time Support Worker who will visit people on a regular basis to enable them to live contentedly in their own homes, and update family carers and other professionals on the situation.”

Julian Lloyd, Chief Executive of Age UK Hillingdon, Harrow and Brent, said:

“We are really grateful that City Bridge Trust has agreed to support our work improving the lives of people living with dementia in Hillingdon. The numbers of people diagnosed with dementia is increasing year on year and our current services are unable to meet demand locally. This funding will help us to run Cognitive Stimulation Therapy groups which have been proven to improve the wellbeing of those living with dementia. We are really excited about getting this new project up and running.”

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of the City of London Corporation’s charity, Bridge House Estates. It is London’s biggest independent grant giver, making grants of £20 million a year to tackle disadvantage across the capital.

The Trust has awarded around 7,900 grants totalling over £380 million since it first began in 1995. It helps achieve the City Corporation’s aim of changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Londoners.

ENDS

Media Enquiries

Kristina Drake

Media Officer, City of London Corporation

Kristina.Drake@cityoflondon.gov.uk

07710860884 / 020 7332 1125

Notes to editors

About the City of London Corporation:

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile dedicated to a vibrant and thriving City, supporting a diverse and sustainable London within a globally-successful UK.

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk 

About City Bridge Trust

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of Bridge House Estates, a Registered Charity, with its primary aim the maintenance and support of five Thames bridges: Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Southwark, Blackfriars and the Millennium footbridge.

City Bridge Trust was established in 1995 to make use of funds surplus to bridge requirements and provides grants totalling around £20m per year towards charitable activity benefitting Greater London. The City of London Corporation is the sole trustee of the Bridge House Estates.