Listen to George’s elegant articulation of the purpose and power of Dementia Diaries.

Hello, it`s George Rook in North Shropshire recording a dementia diary. My dog
Lupin might interrupt us, but we`ll wait and see.
I`m out in the garden, actually I`m sitting in a bloody cold wind at the moment but er yeah it`s June the First and it`s very soon there`s going to be a new Dementia Diaries website so that`s good news to celebrate. Why do I think Dementia Diaries are so important? Well I suppose they are important to different people, they are important to people who make the diaries, people like me living with dementia because it gives us a voice we know someone else will listen to, and maybe we can impart a little bit of wisdom about what life is like with dementia, pass on tips or we can just pass on to others what we enjoy doing, whether it be painting or music or walking outside in the natural world.
You may or may not be able to hear in the background the blackbirds here witch are fairly noisy. We have also got Swallows and House martins flying around above us. There`s an ash tree that like the others has got Ash dieback disease and probably has to be cut down in a couple of years. Um yeah, going back to what Dementia Diaries are for(hesitation) I think we diarists try very hard to debunk the myths, to break the stereotypes associated with dementia and by listening to these diaries of ours people, whether they are health professionals or researchers or anybody newly diagnosed for example or someone caring for someone with dementia you can pick up things that are useful to you.
In particular (stressed) health care professionals, you can learn that when you give a diagnosis it is NOT the end of our life’s and we not intending to stop living, and you should not tell us to stop taking risks and to prepare your selves and your affaires for death because that`s what we get told and it`s not a good place to be. So um (long pause) mm I`m sure in the very near future, you dementia diaries website, will be easier to navigate, to search and it will be easer to find diaries that will interest you.
Some diaries are long some are short, some are little snatches of thoughts, some are ( so are mine in the past) very long recordings of birds singing or streams flowing or, you know, the wind in the willows, quite literally, but they put together a flavour of our lives being ordinary lives like everyone else’s and it just serves to show we are still, you know, alive we are still kicking we are still breathing we are still enjoying life when we can and as much as we can.
Yeah it`s getting more difficult at times still doable quite doable and I have I suppose I have days when I`m in the fog, complete brain fog and very tired when I do very little and there are then times when I think God I wish this was over, then plenty of days though when I`m feeling bright and reasonable um ready to take on the world and to just get on and garden and walk, record diaries and write and take part in Zooms with people to make the world a better place for people with dementia.
So I think I`d better end there cos I`m waffling a bit. I hope you enjoyed this and hope you scan through the new dementia website with more diaries from people like me although we are all different who chose to share their lives with you. By from North Shropshire