Tag: memory

World Alzheimer’s Month

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World Alzheimer’s month is held annually in September.

The aim is to raise awareness of the disease and in doing so, help people to understand what life is like for someone living with or those caring for someone with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

According to Alzheimer’s Disease International: “2 out of every 3 people globally believe there is little or no understanding of Dementia in their country”. This campaign aims to change that statistic.

Alzheimer’s is a condition where the person’s brain function declines which can include memory, thinking and other mental abilities.

Alzheimer’s Research UK. Source: Dementia fact sheet December 2017; World Health Organisation

In Hampshire Libraries we want to raise awareness by staff attending specific training sessions and many have now become Dementia Friends. They can be identified by the Dementia Friends badge.

dementiafriends.org.uk

Reminiscence collection

Hampshire Libraries holds a Reminiscence Collection which are items that have been chosen to stimulate and support reminiscence and may be of particular use to carers working with people with dementia.


Memory Joggers 1940 – 1989 Entertainers – Barbara & Robin Dynes, I can remember the 1970s – Sally Hewitt, Having Fun in Grandma’s Day – Faye Gardner

Other books available to borrow

Hampshire Libraries hold books that explain about Alzheimer’s and Dementia and some are from the perspective of those suffering or caring for those with the disease. Find those books here: Books about Alzheimer’s & Dementia

There also a special collection of books called ‘Pictures to Share‘ which are fantastic books that help those with Alzheimer’s and Dementia bring back memories and to look at images that are part of daily life.

Family Life, At the Seaside, Shopping – Pictures to share Community interest company, edited by Helen Bate

Home Library Service

If you can’t get to the library due to ill-health, disability or caring responsibilities the library can come to you.

We can arrange for you to have your library books delivered to your home on a regular basis.

We offer books in standard and large print and also have a wide range of audio books in different formats. If you would like to borrow a particular title from Hampshire’s stock, we can get it for you.

This service is free.

How it works

Ask about the service at your local library, fill in the Library Service form or call HantsDirect on 0300 555 1387. After you have completed the enquiry form we will contact you by phone or email to assess your eligibility.

We deliver the service through our team of volunteers.

We will match you with someone and make them aware of what you like to read. They will visit you and exchange the items you have borrowed usually at least once every 4 weeks.

Volunteering for the Home Library Service

Or if you would like to become a volunteer who delivers and collects books, then please find out more information and apply here: Home Library Service Volunteering information

Other information

Some of our Hampshire Libraries hold Dementia Events and Drop Ins where you can receive advice and those who have Alzheimer’s and Dementia can attend a group.

You can also receive help and information through the Hampshire website by visiting the Adult Social Care Support page.

Libraries are a safe space and there are so many ways in which they can support and enhance the life of a person diagnosed and their carers.

The Story of You by Julie Myerson

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About the book

This book begins with snow, the story of you. It is a freezing room in a student house, a sagging mattress on the floor, and two people, one nineteen, the other twenty, kissing passionately, all night. It is to this scene that, twenty years later, Rosy, the narrator of Julie Myerson’s astonishing new novel, returns obsessively. She has just lost a child in a terrible, careless accident, and Tom, her partner, has taken her to Paris to forget about things, to start again. It has snowed in the night and, waking at dawn, Rosy decides to go for a walk. At the hotel desk there’s a note for her: ‘I’m waiting for you X.’ And he is, sitting in the corner of a cafe as she enters almost at random. They talk. He touches her. She turns away and when she looks again he is gone. Was he there? Had she dreamed him? And why, when he e-mails her out of the blue two days later, does he write as though they haven’t met for twenty years? The Story of You is an account of a woman trying to get by as a mother, a wife, while falling in love with a man from a memory.

Reviewed by Abbotts Ann WI Reading Group:

At first, most readers thought this would be a difficult book to finish but, after a few chapters, although not always clear as to what was actually happening – concluded that it was an interesting concept and thought provoking.

Star rating: **

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Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall

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About the book

When an innocent trip to see the play Peter Pan gives Kitty’s four brothers an excuse to deny her access to her much-loved nieces, she finds herself in a skewed, vividly colored world where children become emblems of hope, longing, and grief. Still reeling from the loss of her own child that never was, Kitty is suddenly made shockingly aware of the real reason for her pervasive sense of non-existence. Suddenly, her family’s oddness, the secrets of her mother’s life and death, and the disappearance of her sister come into a startling new focus—one that leaves Kitty struggling to find own identity.

Reviewed by Eastleigh Library Wednesday Group:

Most enjoyed the book although it was difficult to get inside the character, in particular with her illness. Easy read and gripping.

Star rating: ***

Read the book

Request to borrow a reading group set