ALAN Titchmarsh took time out after his appearance at the Ilkley Literature Festival to visit the Clarke Foley Centre, where he met members of Dementia Friendly Ilkley Action, DFIA, of which he is patron.

He was keen to find out more about dementia, how it affects people and those who care for them and especially the work of the group in Ilkley. He was interested to hear how businesses and organisations can become dementia friendly and pleased to hear that numbers are growing of those in Ilkley who have written action plans and are recognised as becoming dementia friendly, allowing them to display the forget-me-knot logo of Alzheimer's and dementia friends. He agreed it was important to educate people to help remove the stigma and fear around dementia, and was keen to hear about the work the group hope to do in the coming year with Ilkley Grammar School and local primary schools.

He offered his continued support to the work of DFIA and asked to be kept up to date of their activities in Ilkley, he looked forward to catching up next time he was in the area and expressed an interest in attending a Dementia Friends session to understand more about dementia and what can be done to support people living with dementia when his busy schedule would allow.

The next public Dementia Friends session is Thursday, October 20 at the Clarke Foley Centre from 10am to 11am.