Carers Week is an annual drive to raise awareness of the challenges carers face every day, we know these have been exacerbated by the Covid 19 pandemic with many carers and people living with dementia feeling forgotten by society.  Alongside Age UK Salford, we are working to make sure Carers and people living with dementia get as many opportunities to connect and feel supported as they need.

‘Escape to the Summer’ is a weeklong programme of online groups running throughout Carers Week.  The summer theme will run through Pause to Draw, Escape to the Disco, Come and Sing and our regular groups chats.  It also features in a pilot session: The Storybox Project – Escape to Summer which will be a fun, creative group offering fun, creative session inspired by the summer theme. It will use imagination, stories and poetry as a starting point to inspire a range of creative activities that are accessible for all including – music, creative writing and art.  Check out Our Response page for details of the groups:

As well as the virtual, we will be offering a taste of a trip to the seaside – no not a stick of rock! To raise awareness of Salford carers supporting somebody living with dementia we are asking family members and friends to nominate a carer who deserves the best Fish and Chips supper in Salford from our friends at Sykes’s Chippy.  What better way for an escape then munching on some fish, chips and mushy peas?  To nominate a carer click here.

The idea for creating escapes came from carers attending our online sessions who highlighted their importance!  `It was a great escape, I lost myself in the drawings and it recharged my batteries’, Julie cares for her husband at home and attended a recent ‘Pause to Draw’ session.   We hope that you enjoy your taste of summer, please share photos and stories from the week with us!

The Empowered Team