Category: Charity

To mark this year’s World Alzheimer’s Month (September 2023), Signature at Banstead have set themselves a challenge to cycle over 2,000 miles on a static bike with the goal to raise £1,000 for Alzheimer’s Society. If you like to donate CLICK HERE

Signature at Banstead will be cycling the distance from the care home to Athens Panathenaic Stadium – the site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 – and a total of 2,086 kilometres!

With the support of the local community, care home staff, residents, family members and volunteers the team are well on their way of achieving their end destination – and have already cycled over half of the distance, with just over a week left to go.

Tamara Juckes, Activities Manager and Regional Mentor at Signature at Banstead, shares the importance of staying connected to the community, whilst raising awareness of Alzheimer’s:

“World Alzheimer’s Month is always a big date in our diary. We’ve done a couple of other initiatives this month including a talk ‘Inside the World of Dementia’ for prospective residents, professionals, and staff. We also ran an immersion workshop for people to understand what it’s like to live with dementia, which can be quite uncomfortable for some.

We were donated the exercise bike by one of the families who has a relative here, so we started to think about a cycle challenge. We were throwing ideas around when we came up with the idea of cycling to Athens where the first Olympic Games was held. We did the maths and thought, is this do-able?!

The whole community has come together – residents, family members, careers, housekeepers. There’s no judgement in this community – we’ve had people come and do as little as 15 minutes. We’ve all pulled together to try and reach our goal by the end of the month – so far, we’ve made it to Hungary!”

The cycling challenge has sparked excitement across the home and residents have enjoyed watching volunteers take to the bike.

91-year-old Robert, a resident at Signature at Banstead, fondly remembers “I could ride a ‘Fairy Cycle’ before I could walk! I used to go to Germany and hire a bike so I could go on the lovely cycle path around the lake. I’ve not cycled in 50 years, but I have watched the Tour de France on television.”

Robert is proud of his family’s contribution to the challenge and proudly shared “It’s been a lovely event to watch, my son has been involved, he cycled 50km on one occasion, and my daughter in law did 25km.”

Jakki Mayes, Activities Assistant at Signature at Banstead has also enjoyed getting involved with the challenge.

Jakki shared: “I would normally only hire the odd bike on holiday! But it felt really rewarding getting on the cycle, it’s a good cause and it motivates you to get on! One time I was on the bike and the residents were laughing and singing along at the same time! I’ll probably hop on again today to do a few kilometres.”

Later Living Marketplace Lottie also got involved, helping to clock up some miles on the bike. Earlier in the week, team members, Louise, Dom, Jordan, and Hannah visited Signature at Banstead and added over 100 miles to the journey!

Louise Donnelly, Product Manager at Lottie shared “It’s great to be able to take part in an initiative like this, to get out into the care homes we work with, meet the residents and staff and pull together for a challenger like this, all for a cause close to our hearts!”

This year’s World Alzheimer’s Month, Lottie has been working to dispel common Alzheimer’s myths and misconceptions. Lottie’s new research has revealed over the last 12 months more people have been searching for Alzheimer’s care and support, with online searches surging:

Hannah Karim, Care Expert Manager at Later Living Marketplace Lottie, shared, “As we continue into World Alzheimer’s Month and beyond, it’s so important to dispel the biggest myths, stereotypes and misconceptions about living with Alzheimer’s and caring for those with this condition. Negative assumptions can lead to those with Alzheimer’s feeling diminished or isolated, impacting their self-esteem and sense of identity.

With an ageing population it is expected that 1.6 million people in the UK will be living with Alzheimer’s by 2040. So, It’s important we continue to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and to champion those caring for a loved one living with the condition in the following weeks, months and years.

It’s been amazing to be part of the cycling challenge at Signature at Banstead, it’s so rewarding to see a community come together to raise awareness of an important cause, whilst also bringing so much joy to the residents each day!”, concludes Karim.