Member Article

The Croft Care Home hosts Penn's Alz Café as thank you for fun and friendship

Residents at a Finchfield care home marked World Alzheimer’s Month with a special ‘thank you’ event to recognise the fun and support they receive from the ‘Alz Café’. Founder of the café, Julie Grainger MBE, and her team of volunteers, were guests of honour at The Croft care home on Castlecroft Road.

Residents at the 24-bedroomed home are regular attendees at the bi-monthly café at Penn United Reform Church which offers live entertainment, refreshments and the chance to socialise.

“Everyone here loves to go to the café,” said The Croft’s activity coordinator, Paul Hipwood. “There’s a great atmosphere, lots of conversation and our residents have built relationships with other people who attend.

“It’s somewhere they can relax but also reminisce and have fun. We talk about it for days afterwards, it has such an effect on everybody. World Alzheimer’s Month was a great opportunity for us to give something back to Julie and her team and invite her to come for tea with us.”

With purple the recognised colour for the campaign, Paul dyed his hair to entertain his guests, and residents’ family and friends were welcomed for tea and cake.

Julie shared the MBE she was awarded in March 2022 for her service to the community.
“It was a most beautiful afternoon,“said Gillian Fynn, 86. “Seeing Julie with her MBE was so lovely, she’s a lovely woman.”

The MBE also stirred memories for 98 year old resident, Bill Bickley.
“Seeing Julie’s MBE made me think of members of my family who received awards during the war. Hers is very thoroughly deserved. I very much enjoy going to the café, it’s a lovely trip out.”

Julie founded the Alz Café after caring for her father who had working-age dementia. She has grown the event from around 20 attendees in 2006 to more than 100, and alternates evening events with the coffee mornings, all of which are free to attend.

“We all really enjoyed our afternoon at The Croft,” said Julie. “It has such a lovely atmosphere and everyone was so happy. Being recognised in this way makes what we do so worthwhile and means such an awful lot to us all.”

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