About us
Dementia Club UK
Our Mission
Dementia Club UK goes above and beyond to provide help and support to those living with dementia and also their carers and families to put smiles on their faces and give them a better quality of life.
Our Vision
Our vision is to raise more awareness and stamp out the stigma associated with dementia. We will deliver professional advice and information, in a social environment where our members can relax and make friends and find a friendly ear when times are hard.
Most of all, we will provide Hope!
Our Story
How We Got Started
Lisa who is a qualified fitness instructor was running the very successful Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Café monthly for about 2 years and as members increased she wanted to provide more sessions.
A fundraising event at Saracens Allianz Park in December 2014 resulted in the Chairman of Saracens wanting to support and provide funds for Lisa to be able to run weekly sessions. The Saracens Dementia Club was launched in April 2015 and weekly sessions started on 22nd April 2015.
Lisa has now created a registered charity called Dementia Club UK which continues to be sponsored by Saracens and sessions continue to run weekly at the Finchley Memorial Hospital and other venues have also been opened at different locations in the Borough of Barnet and Camden to help more people.
Where We Are Now
sWe run several dementia club sessions in various locations. Details of all the venues and session dates can be found on our programme. People with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are welcome to attend with their carers, friends and families and also welcome are those who have lost someone with dementia and are now lonely.
Each session aims to provide you with professional advice and information, gentle exercise to music and fun activities in a social atmosphere with cups of tea/coffee and lovely cakes.
Various speakers will attend the sessions and we have a GP who volunteers their time and attends most sessions. Our GP takes blood pressures and can answer any medical concerns.
Our Patrons
Nigel Wray
Patron
After graduating from Bristol, worked for a few years in merchant banking, before starting own business publishing financial newsletters. Having nearly gone bust the business recovered in time to become one of the first companies to float on the then USM (now AIM) Market whereupon we effected a merger with a company called Carlton Communications, in video communications (Adam and the Ants video etc) which in turn became Carlton Television the owners of Thames Television and Central TV.
That was very well run by Michael Green so thinking that I knew something about property, which I didn’t, purchased a controlling share in a small property company, Gilbert House Investments, that, given a favourable climate, went on to purchase another much larger property company and then purchased Singer & Friedlander the merchant bank where I had begun my career.
Theresa Villiers
Patron
We are honoured that Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet has kindly agreed to be our Patron, Theresa said:
“the café is clearly having a hugely positive impact on the dementia sufferers who come along and their families. There was such a genuinely happy atmosphere and it was heart warming to know that this is possible even when people are grappling with this terrible disease.”
Theresa Villiers has been MP for Chipping Barnet since 2005. She lives in Arkley in her constituency and is involved in a range of local campaigns. She has served as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2019 to 2020, she was Minister of State for Transport from 2010 to 2012 and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2012 until 2016.
Our Trustees
Lisa Rutter
Chairman & Founder
Nick Rutter
Trustee
David Longstaff
Trustee
Valerie Chodosh
Trustee
Dr. Angela Parker
Trustee
Mark Rutter
Trustee
Become a Volunteer Today
If you would like to volunteer for Dementia Club UK we would like to hear from you, email us or call Lisa.