TOWN councillors are throwing their support behind a charity’s plans to make Wellington the first ‘dementia inclusive’ town in the Westcountry.

It follows a £279,788 National Lottery award for Reminiscence Learning, which supports local people and their families living with dementia.

A dementia inclusive community is one where people are supported to fully participate in society by the whole of their local community, from local authorities to shops and businesses.

The lottery money will help Reminiscence Learning appoint a community engagement officer and a data analyst and work to open a hub in Wellington as a drop-in point for anybody wanting help in understanding dementia and how to deal with the next steps.

The charity plans to deliver through every letterbox in the town and surrounding area a booklet to provide crisis line numbers and advice, including an overview of signs, symptoms, and types of dementia for early recognition, large-print signposting information, and services descriptions.

Dementia awareness workshops will also be run for local businesses and organisations.

Charity chief executive Fiona Mahoney explained the three-year project to town councillors at a meeting of their community committee on Monday (April 28).

Councillors voted unanimously on an in-principle motion to work with Reminiscence Learning to promote the project and to allow the authority’s logo to be used.

Ms Mahoney said: “It is about making a real difference for people living with dementia and their families, so they do not feel isolated, especially in more rural communities.

“And sometimes it is just the simple things, like signage with simple wording, that will be an enormous help.

“We want to get to a point where every shop, every workplace, every public space in Wellington is dementia inclusive.”

Ms Mahoney said although the charity was grateful for the lottery grant, it still needed to continue fund-raising for services it already provided.