A CAFÉ designed to help those with dementia has opened in Chipping Sodbury.

The Oasis Memory Café is a service run by the town’s Baptist Church and Rotary Club to offer a place to relax for those with the condition and their carers and offers a range of activites to help stimulate the mind.

Set up by Sally Pettipher and Jean Davis, both members of the church, the Memory Café is one of several designed to support those with dementia in South Gloucestershire, with others already running regularly in Thornbury and Yate.

The opening ceremony for the café took place on September 20, with guests including members of the Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church and Rotary Club as well the Alzheimer’s Society, South Gloucestershire Dementia Action Alliance and a number of other groups keen to help those with the condition.

The café will run every first and third Tuesday morning from 10.30am to 12pm, and will be manned by volunteers from the community who have taken part in special training, many who have experience with loved ones with dementia.

Explaining how the idea came about, Sally said: “We started off with a church and identified the need to do more in the community.

“As well as the café, we want to make sure the whole church – the facilities and the congregation – are dementia friendly.”

Jean added: “We have run a dementia friends session already and look to run more soon. We have also been visiting other memory cafés for more advice on how to do it properly.

“It is really encouraging to know that so many people are concerned about dementia, and are keen to help those living with it.”

Complimenting on the town now having a café to support the dementia community, rather than rely on those in Yate and Thornbury, Jacki Hebblethwaite from Chipping Sodbury Rotary said: “This is really amazing, because it is something for Chipping Sodbury, something that is inclusive for all and is right in the heart of the town.”

Joining the party at the opening ceremony was Thornbury and Yate MP Luke Hall, who spoke to the volunteers, carers and café goers before cutting the cake.

Speaking in front of the group, Mr Hall said: “A big thankyou and congratulations to Jean and Sally for their work in getting this off the ground.

“A venture like this is about bringing the community together and is a great initiative, which I will try to volunteer at as much as I can.”