A COMMUNITY care company which runs respite centres in Thornbury and Yate is celebrating its first year anniversary.

Autumn Years Community Care Limited has recently marked its first year working with people living with dementia and their carers.

The company launched its specialist dementia care service in May 2023 and now operates three respite day centres as well as offering an at home service.

Centres run every Thursday at the Ridgewood Centre in Yate and every Friday at Turnberries Community Centre in Thornbury.

The company also runs a session every Tuesday at the St Michael's Centre in Stoke Gifford,

Autumn Years director Vicki Irish said: “We are delighted with the response we have received from our clients and our team of support workers in our first year.

“It has been a very rewarding experience caring for people living with dementia and supporting their families and friends.

“We are looking forward to helping even more people in the coming year.”

She added: “We have been celebrating our first year with a number of events and new initiatives and we are really excited about the year ahead.

“We were invited to speak at the WI in Iron Acton recently which coincided with the National Dementia Action Week where we discussed the key issue of early diagnosis as well as listening to members' concerns and answering questions.”

The team also recently visited the Bristol Dementia Action Alliance ‘Lets Talk Dementia’ event at the Watershed in Bristol.

Vicki added: “We were delighted to be asked to work as volunteers at the event which afforded us the opportunity to talk to so many people involved in the care sector as well as meeting people looking for help and guidance.”

Autumn Years Community Care founders Vicki Irish (left) and Mark Lloyd (right) with ITV West Country presenter Sabet Choudhury (Image: Autumn Years Community Care Limited)

Autumn Years already employs 15 support workers covering their three respite day centres as well as caring for people at home.

The company is now looking to expand its number of centres and will soon be announcing a new centre running on a Wednesday.

Recently Naomi Elder joined the company as team leader working across all three day centres.

Naomi was previously an activities coordinator at Alive Activities in Bristol.

The centres are open from 10am to 2pm.

Activities are designed around each individual’s interests and capabilities to ensure that they make the most of every minute.

These include arts & crafts, live music, intergenerational events, animal Therapy, chair based exercise, gardening, song and dance, pottery and trips out.

For more information see here - www.autumnyearscommunitycare.com