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Big Lottery fund innovative new project

Creative Spaces

We are delighted to announce that the Big Lottery has chosen to fund this innovative project. The number of people with Dementia in the UK is rising and there is an urgent need to examine new ways in which we can improve the quality of life for what is now a significant portion of the population. By involving young people as well as older people with dementia, and by focusing on care homes as centres of community life, we expect the benefits of this project to spread beyond the care homes into the communities that they become a part of.

Wendy undertaking consultation to establish the need for the project

The Creative Spaces project creates opportunities for older people with dementia to improve their environments, strengthen their communities and play a more active part in society. The project is based in mid-Cornwall, an area of social and economic disadvantage.

Activities include story-telling, community events such as fêtes and garden parties, concerts, meetings and design consultations. The activities will be designed to strengthen the links between young and old through shared experience. The outdoor spaces surrounding the care homes will provide a venue for most of these activities. The intention is to change the perception of the care home from an isolated facility to a centre of community life.

Older people with dementia often feel isolated and stigmatised within their communities. Lack of social contact and meaningful experiences exacerbate isolation, depression and feelings of worthlessness. These impacts are shared by families and carers.

Research from the USA and UK shows that the lives of people with dementia can be significantly improved by making changes to their environment that support a sense of meaning and purpose. They benefit from opportunities to use creative skills that employ undamaged parts of the brain, leading to a renewed confidence and improved ability to and make connections with their wider community. Housing managers and carers understand this and want to create more supportive environments but lack knowledge of how to do so. Training, alongside working with older people with dementia, will enable them to learn skills to create positive environments and shared activities.

People typically live with dementia for 10 – 12 years, and by 2025 it is estimated 1 million people in the UK will have dementia. Dementia sufferers, their families and carers form a significant, if currently hidden, proportion of a community.