A PARKINSON’S Café in Hemyock is approaching its one year anniversary.

The ‘Positively Parkinson’s’ group hosts a community support café for people living with Parkinson's, as well as those around them, in Hemyock.

The group’s first monthly support café was held on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at Blackdown Healthy Living and Activity Centre and has gone from strength to strength.

Since that first event, support café sessions have typically seen 20 to 30 people attend each month, with the ages of those attending falling between those in their mid-40s and their mid-90s.

Sarah Grey, founder of Positively Parkinson’s, said: “I'm thrilled at how our little café has taken root in the community and I'm now starting to book speakers for 2026.

“Over the past 12 months we've had a research professor from Exeter University, a geriatrician from Musgrove Park Hospital, an NHS speech and language therapist, Parkinson's UK local advisors, plus several highly recommended complementary therapists to help people manage various Parkinson's related struggles.”

Alongside the café, several members have joined in with additional regular activities hosted by the group. These include walking football at Blackbrook, and following a successful ‘Dance for Parkinson's’ session at the April café, semi-regular dance workshops are hosted in Hemyock for those with neurological conditions including Parkinson’s Disease. The next workshop is due to take place in November.

Sarah said many friendships have been made between attendees, several of whom did not previously know anyone else with Parkinson's, adding: “Quite a few have found friends in their own villages through the café.”

Supported by Parkinson’s UK, the café is always free to attend and Positively Parkinson’s has collectively raised enough money to fund the café for another two years.

The next monthly support café will take place at Blackdown Healthy Living and Activity Centre on Saturday, October 25, from 10.30am to 12pm.