It is Dementia Action Week (15th – 21st May), so here at the British Gymnastics Foundation, we are sharing quotes and stories from participants, deliverers, carers and loved ones who attend Love to Move classes.

Love to Move was designed especially for people living with dementia, and while hundreds of participants are benefitting from the programme all over the UK, our aim is for everyone living with dementia to have access to this life changing programme.

Ruth has been attending Love to Move in Hemingford. Ruth told us:

“I heard about this class from attending the Hub Club and it sounded like a great movement class for people my age. Since starting the class, I have been doing daily exercises at home which is really helping with my movement.

It is a pleasure to take part in the class and I find it very enjoyable. I have made some fantastic friendships so far since joining the class. Everyone is so friendly and it’s nice to have the volunteers looking out for us in the village. The friendship and togetherness this class brings our community is wonderful. Each week I sit next to someone different – it is as much about socialising with others as it is doing the exercises!”

Take action this Dementia Action Week

There are many ways to support Love to Move and help us on our journey to reach everyone living with dementia. Thank you for your support.

• Please ‘like’ ‘re-tweet’ ‘follow’ ‘comment’ and ‘share’. You can help us to spread the word by sharing this article, our posts and information with your family and friends.
• Volunteer or Fundraise. From volunteering in a Love to Move class, to taking on a fundraising challenge. Email us at [email protected]  to register your interest.
• Donate, train and keep informed. Click on the buttons below to donate to our work, find out more about what it takes to deliver Love to Move, and to sign up to our Email- Newsletter.

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A Love to Move session has been established in Steyning as the result of a fantastic new partnership between Right at Home, Steyning Parish Council and Love to Move deliverers, Cherry and Anna.

Sport England’s Together Funding was made available through the British Gymnastics Foundation to help kick start the new session to benefit older people living with long-term health conditions such as dementia, in the local area. The partnership has been, and continues to be, first class.

The owner of Right at Home, Anton, has, himself completed the Love to Move training, so fully understands the benefits of the programme. The deliverers feel supported by the partner organisations and staff have been mentored to complete their own Love to Move training and assessment to further support the sessions. Deliverers have recently requested raised steps for some clients to give them better access to movements during the class, and Right at Home immediately provided these.

This social element has developed into an active social gathering which is helping to alleviate the isolation felt by so many older people.

As popularity for the sessions grew, they relocated from a small side room to the largest room at the Steyning Centre. As well as the proven benefit of the movements within Love to Move sessions, the participants have also benefited from the social impact they’ve seen from attending the sessions and staying on for a coffee and a chat afterwards. It started as a polite drink and has grown to finding a friend to sit next to and properly engage with. This is just as true of carers and participants. Music is personalised at the end of a session and the deliverers get requests coming from participants and carers. The power of music and memories cannot be under stated.

I am extremely pleased with the expertise and loving care that my wife, Ruth, receives each week at the Love to Move group. Ruth who has dementia and restricted movement, appears to be really enjoying herself doing the various exercises and participating modules. She is also clearly benefiting from the social aspect of the meetings. I am very impressed by the energy and competence of the staff, who also have the ability to make the group members feel that they are being cared for in a personal way.

Terry, carer and husband of Ruth.

Love to Move classes have been used to make links across services.

The Steyning group have been visited by Age UK who, as a result have started conversations so that two of the participants now have some day care and the carers have some respite. They are due to be visited next by West Sussex 4 Sight, vision support, so they can sign post clients to benefit from the Love to Move sessions.

Could you be part of a partnership?

This is a fantastic example of how setting up a new Love to Move class in your area can done in partnership with other local organisations. If you are interested in training to deliver, or if you are an organisation that could add something to a Love to Move partnership, we’d love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected]

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Love to Move deliverers celebrated for the difference they make to their community.

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Love to Move deliverers Cherry and Anna attended a Royal Garden Party with Royals Kate, William and Anne, just days after the Coronation.

The best friends run Love to Move classes in West Sussex. Jackie, whose father attends Cherry and Anna’s class, felt moved to nominate them to attend a Garden party at Buckingham Palace for the difference that they make for her father and the others attending their classes.

Here is what Jackie had to say about the classes:

“There is movement, rhythm, music, quizzes, on a weekly basis – The exercises stimulate the brain and help it to function, to coordinate, and it really helps with confidence…and more importantly in my eyes is HOW Anna and Cherry go about this – with love, with humour, with skill. They are both such lovely women; sweet, humble, giving.”

Jackie’s Father has Alzheimer’s “He has really struggled with the condition, mourns the loss of his memory, gets quite low at times. The Love to Move session is a boost of positivity in his life – he leaves there in a refreshed and better frame of mind, ‘that was fun’ – is a wonderful thing to hear. He loves how they (Anna and Cherry) smile all the time – and they do smile all the time.”

Both Cherry and Anna have a personal connection and understanding of dementia from supporting relatives and running dementia cafes.  They heard about the Love to Move course through Cherry’s gymnastics background, “My children got me involved in gymnastics and I went on to coach preschool children. When the Love to Move course came up, I could see straight away that there was a real purpose for it.”

They completed their training just before Covid, and while that meant that some plans had to change, they did not let that stop them continuing classes online. It’s clear that Cherry and Anna go the extra mile for the people attending their classes, supporting them in finding other dementia friendly groups, “It’s a good way of being able to help people to find ways to cope with their situation. You get so involved with all the journeys – it’s a privilege. You know that you’re giving something really beneficial.”

Cherry told us how it feels to have been nominated “Very lovely – incredibly lovely to be to be thanked – quite humbling. The groups are just so proud! I’m looking forward to just doing something totally different – enjoying a nice cup of tea and doing a bit of people watching.” 

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