'People with dementia remain creative' - Charity's exhibition and Thomas Bewick book help fill 'big gap' in support

Living with dementia doesn't mean giving up the things you love.

That's the message from Tyneside charity Equal Arts, which is passionate about using art in all its forms to help people living with the condition to stay creative and enjoy their lives. The charity has recently launched a dementia-friendly book about engraver Thomas Bewick, while an exhibition of art related to the famous name has opened at Newcasle City Library.

Both the book and the artwork have featured the contributions of many people living with dementia across the North East. This has been through the charity's HenPower project.

Over the last 15 months, the charity has held workshops and creative sessions - involving those with dementia and their loved ones - and created both the book Bewick Tales and the exhibition B for Bewick. The idea is to use creativity to support those with a diagnosis and help them remain connected to the things they care about.

During the past six months, together with author and curator Sarah Lawrance, people living with dementia have helped create the book whch has an accessible layout, design and narrative. Gill Taylor from East Durham spoke of how she had found the process.

She said: “With dementia we lose our short-term memory, but you don’t lose your intelligence, that desire to learn and stretch yourself doesn’t go away.

"If reading has become frustrating and you don’t know these books are available to you, there’s the risk people will stop reading, stop doing something they’ve enjoyed. People living with dementia can do so much and books like Bewick Tales can support people to continue reading for pleasure and provide the opportunity to continue learning."

Gill was first diagnosed with dementia in 2012. More than a decade later, she said she felt passionately that finding out news of dementia or Alzheimer's was far from "the end of the road". She said when she had been first diagnosed, the shock had been massive.

"However, now I think differently," she said. "Yes, I've got dementia. It doesn't and it hasn't changed me. I am who I am. I'm really positive. I still do the same things. I don't do them quite the same way but I think it's important that if you've got a problem, you just go and see.

"Because it's not the end of the road if you've dementia. You can learn to live and live well by just adjusting your life and it takes all of the fear out of it. I know at some point I will get worse, but I'm quite ok with that, because I have embraced what I can do."

Douglas Hunter, chief executive of Equal Arts, said the charity's work was built around the idea that people living with dementia should be reminded what they can do, not what they can't.

He said: "We can tend to focus too much on things which remind people with dementia what they cannot do that perhaps they used to enjoy - what we do is we try to provide support that helps people to maintain connection with their loved ones and which is enjoyable for them to engage in."

He said the key was to help people communicate through art, and added: "Dementia doesn't impact on your ability to be creative and imaginative."

This concept led to Thomas Bewick - the engraver, author and naturalist known as "Northumberland's greatest artist". Bewick was born at Cherryburn in Mickley, near Stocksfield. And the National Trust team there supported the project.

Douglas added the charity hoped their work would fill a "significant gap" in support for people with dementia and spoke of plans for Open Ended Books to produce future books in the same way. He said: "We focus on the here and now and what people can achieve rather than the past and what has gone."

Andrew Newman, Professor of Cultural Gerontology at Newcastle University, is a big fan of the project. He said: “We are all part of networks of caring relationships. Just as a family member will care for someone living with dementia, they in turn care for that family member.

“At times relationships can change with the progression of dementia. Bewick Tales provides a way for people to connect and communicate which is hugely beneficial for wellbeing.”

The book project was supported by funding of £30,000 from Innovate UK - Create Growth Fund, the support of National Trust at Cherryburn, The Bewick Society and Newcastle City Library.

Bewick Tales is the first title by Open Ended Books and was published on March 21, 2024, costing £15.99. For sales or more information please contact Equal Arts at information@equalarts.org.uk or call 0191 261 1619. The B is for Bewick exhibition will run through to June 2024 on level 6 of Newcastle City Library.