Dementia projects for Church in Wales parishes

A dementia conference was the springboard for the project

Churches in north and mid Wales are to run projects aimed at making their parishes more dementia-friendly.

Five groups of churches received funding from Bangor University to establish activities such as memory cafes, dementia accessible services of worship and visits to care homes.

The project followed a conference led by a retired priest studying dementia and spirituality at Bangor.

The projects cover Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire and Powys.

Rev Bob Friedrich, who is taking a PhD in the subject, has selected a cross section of churches for the project.

He said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to work with churches to help them offer specific projects which will meet the needs of their local community while they become dementia-friendly."

Sarah Wheat, engagement officer for the diocese of St Asaph, said churches could offer "important settings" for dementia support.

"The buildings, the services, the hymns are often still familiar to people with dementia and with volunteer support can provide invaluable spaces and facilities," she added.