A generous Salford ice cream man made some extra stops on his round to surprise people living with dementia and carers and treat them to a cone.
Peter Schiavo teamed up with us at Empowered Conversations to make surprise ice cream deliveries to mark national Ice Cream Day on July 19, and got other ice cream vans on board to do the same across the city.
One of Peter’s stops was to Tony and Joy Watson, who he regularly sees on is usual round. Tony said: “We both love ice creams so this was a great surprise and it was lovely to chat with Peter.”
Since lockdown started in March, the Empowered Conversations team have been delivering online groups and session in Salford to support family carers and people living with dementia. From Escape to the Disco through to Come and Sing, Pause to Draw to Storybox Creative, as well as four weekly group chats for family carers and a weekly online seminar.
Emma Smith, project leader from Empowered Conversations, said: “We asked Peter if he could help us out and he bowled us over with his enthusiasm and generosity. He’s been knocking on doors and surprising people with a ’99’ and everyone has really enjoyed it!
“It has been really important to us to maintain contact with the people with dementia and carers that we support during this strange time and it has worked really well. The ice cream deliveries have made it even sweeter.”
For more information on Empowered Conversations go to: www.empowered-conversations.co.uk