Exeter Dementia Action Alliance has marked World Alzheimer’s Month by holding a second Baton Memory Walk, visiting people living with a dementia in two care homes in the city, including The Old Rectory.
The walk on Sunday 8th September, coincided with the second anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The two-hour event concluded on Exeter’s Cathedral Green with a minute’s silence to remember both the Queen, and all those who have been affected by the condition.
The metal and wood baton was created in 2022 by Chris Brown and is engraved ‘Celebrating Memories’. Inside is a digital memory stick with more than sixty memories sent in by Alliance supporters whose lives have all been touched by family and friends living with a dementia.
The Old Rectory was one of two homes visited by the walkers. Southern Healthcare has supported the EDAA by sponsoring one of its Exeter Cosy Routes, mapped walks of between four and seven miles which surround the city.
Gina Awad, lead of the Alliance, said: “It felt meaningful to directly engage with the residents in their homes and see their faces light up. They were interested in holding the baton itself and the inscription ‘Celebrating Memories’ seemed to resonate with them in talking about memories.”
The Cosy Route project was created by Alliance board member and dementia carer Jo Earlam, who said: “It was a pleasure to visit the residents of The Lilacs and The Old Rectory in World Alzheimer’s Month. My late father, Bernard, had vascular dementia, and I am now a carer for my husband John, who has dementia. The Cosy Routes project and gathering memories in this unique way through the baton is my way of helping to raise awareness of this cruel disease.”
