In 2015 Mark Fisher, the then Minister of Solihull United Reformed Church, formed a dementia group. He searched for volunteers who would be interested in helping to achieve his vision. Seven people volunteered, all from the Church or with a connection to a Church.
A discussion was had about how often we should meet, whether the carers should stay, whether we charge and what we would be known as. We meet every Monday morning between 10 am and 12 noon at Solihull URC, we would encourage the carers, once they were happy, to leave and have two hours respite, and there would be no charge. The name came about by saying “at this moment, or, at that moment in time they remember…….” so “Moments” was agreed on. The logo is a clock face with Moments written into it. We distributed flyers to surgeries, local churches, libraries and community groups.
On the 7 September 2015 we held our first meeting: “Moments” Dementia Group was born with three members.
Ten years on we now have excellent team of thirteen Volunteers, sixteen members regularly attending and we meet every Monday. Over time we have had over sixty members taking advantage of our services.
Our activities have included jigsaws, play your cards right, BBQ, flower arranging, painting, craft work, games, colouring, themed sessions and plenty more. We have brought several people in to entertain us, bringing in sheep, Ukelele band, a Ukrainian singer, choirs, an alpaca, a therapy dog, and many more.
Our aim is to stimulate and encourage sparks of remembrance and recognition, through interaction, perseverance and patience within a fun and relaxed atmosphere and to give the carers much needed time for themselves which we feel is most important. Our celebration was attended by the Mayor of Solihull, and it was wonderful to be recognised in the wider community too!