Dementia-friendly art class 'full of love and fun'

Four women and one man sitting around a round wooden table in a garden. There are plants and flowers in the background. The people all have clip boards and paper with drawings on on the table in front of them and two of the ladies are drawing with pencils, while the teacher, a woman with white shoulder length hair, glasses and a denim shirt looks on. There are also four empty mugs on the table.

The classes are open to people living with dementia and their carers and families

Sarah Easedale
BBC News

Kath and John Griffiths have been married for 63 years, and for the past decade, she has also been his carer, after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2015.

There are challenges and difficulties, Kath says, good days and bad, but says a weekly art class the couple both attend has a calming effect on her husband.

"It's very relaxing, drawing. You can get your feelings out," John says, agreeing.

Run by Dementia Friendly Wrexham, the class is for those living with the disease and their partners, carers, or other family members and friends.

For Kath, it's also a place where she can relax, chat and seek support from others going through the same things she is, while John, a former engineer, is absorbed in his art works.

She said it was part of the week they can "both look forward to", adding that they have "surprised themselves" with what they have achieved.

"Margaret [the teacher] has this way, she can get anyone to do things. We're so proud of the things we've produced," Kath added.

A man with grey/white hair brushed forwards and wearing a blue and white check shirt and dark navy jacket with a red lining stands next to a woman with short white, wavy hair, she is wearing a denim jacket over a pink t-shirt, with a blue strap across her shoulder. They are standing in a garden with a flower bed, trellis and old stone wall in the background

Kath Griffiths says it's "no job" to get John to the art class where they have so many friends

Work created by Kath and John as well as some of the other 33 members of the class are currently on display at an exhibition at the National Trust property, Chirk Castle, which runs until the middle of August.

Dementia champion Frank Hemmings, who has been involved with the art class from the beginning, said it gives them a sense of "pride" to see their work on display.

A watercolour painting of an island with a hill and a moody sky in colours of sepia and brown in a black frame. It is on a table with a black cloth with other paintings behind it and on other tables in the background. It is a large room with a window in the background.

Works by members of the class are being exhibited at Chirk Castle

But he said the real benefit is in the quiet time they spend in the class.

"It's good therapy. For those two hours, that person living with dementia is calm and enjoying themselves and really engrossed in their art, and their carer... they're given that period of time with peace, amongst like minded people," he said.

"They can talk, ask for advice and share issues and problems."

He added that some of the art work created is a "really high standard", but said it can sometimes be sad.

"We see some fabulous art by some... and 10 minutes after they've done it, they don't realise they've done it, I've had that conversation on a lot of occasions," he said.

An elderly lady wearing a red pinafore dress and pink jumper draws leaning on a clipboard. She is sitting on a blue wooden bench in a green arbour, next to a middle aged man with thick dark grey hair and black framed glasses, who is also drawing with a pencil onto paper on a clipboard. He is wearing a dark green t-shirt with a logo that reads super champ and has a cartoon dog and a football image

Mike Davies brings his 94-year-old mum, Eileen Davies, to the class every week and says they both enjoy it because "everyone is in the same boat"

The way people with dementia draw and paint can also change over time, he added.

Jan Keen, from Llangollen, Denbighshire, said her husband Terry, 80, started off in the class four years ago painting things that were recognisable, but now draws in an abstract way.

"He just enjoys the drawing and he's just evolved over the years," she said.

"He's not seeing things in the same way, but still getting something out of it. He's meeting people and getting his ideas down on paper.

"I just think it's an excellent way of expressing himself."

A man and a woman sit in a classroom with chalk boards leaning up against the wall behind them. They are sitting next to a table which is covered in art works, some framed. She has short light brown hair and is wearing a black and white checked shirt over a black top and black and white scarf, she is holding the arm of the man who has short white hair and silver framed glasses. He is wearing a navy jacket over a yellow polo shirt and is doing a thumbs up gesture. Both are smiling.

Jan Keen with her husband Terry says the art class can also calm down the agitation that can come with dementia

The class teacher Margaret Roberts has taught watercolour painting for 30 years and says the dementia friendly group is "full of love".

"Some say it's the highlight of their week... the joy of painting and drawing together and just having a nice time doing it," she said.

"There's banter between the couples... it's just fun."

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