Businesses and groups in Sandwich will make a united effort to transform the quality of life for people in the town with dementia, as Sandwich Dementia Action Alliance is launched.

The inaugural meeting of the alliance was held by Jane Goring and Sally Barclay at Age Concern in Cattle Market, last night.

It was attended by taxi drivers from Sandwich Cars, representatives from The Co-op, practice manager from the Butchery surgery Suzanne Mackinnon and part-time priest Howard Pashley.

They agreed to actively contribute to help make Sandwich a dementia friendly place by making small actions and raising awareness.

Operations manager at Age Concern, Jane Goring, said: “Sally and I have been members of Dover and Deal Dementia Alliance for 18 months. Sandwich was rarely mentioned so we spoke to Peter Marsh, a dementia champion, and he suggested that Sandwich was big enough to have its own alliance.

“We’ve pledged it and it’s going to grow from here. Our goal is to get as many people in Sandwich involved.”

Co-op store manager Paul Harris is keen to train his staff and was receptive to the idea of having coin charts at every till.

He said: “We have 50 members of staff who deal with up to 14,000 transactions a week.

“For us, we think it would be a positive benefit to work out a plan to make our team more aware of what they can do in certain situations.”

Liz Taylor, manager of Alzheimer’s Society in East Kent, was also at the meeting.

She sits on five dementia alliances and has pledged to share any good practice with the Sandwich alliance.

Mrs Goring, who is a dementia champion, said: “We are conscious to get everybody trained as a Dementia Friend. It’s really good training and we’re happy to deliver it to anyone who would like it.”

The alliance will meet three times a year to discuss its progress.

To become a member of Sandwich Dementia Action Alliance, call 01304 614237 or email sally.barclay@ageconcernsandwich.com or jane.goring@ageconcernsandwich.com

Age Concern will host a dementia awareness event at Sandwich Guildhall on May 21. To get involved call the number above.