Memory Makers Social Group
Our 2024 Dementia Connection and Awareness project resulted in the formation of our 'Memory Makers' Social Group. Open to anyone 55 and over, this group is particularly suited for carers and people with dementia.
When: every Monday from 10am-12pm
Location: Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre, Tuppen Drive Sebastopol
Who can attend: anyone aged 55 and over, for people living with dementia and their carers
Cost: FREE. Members generally give a gold coin donation which is used towards an end of year celebration. Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided.
Collaborative Activities
With funding from Dementia Australia in 2024 /2025, Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre worked in collaboration with City of Ballarat Ageing Well Services, and Bigger Hearts Dementia Alliance Ballarat Grampians Health – Eyres House, and other local groups to run a series of activities for people living with dementia and their families and carers. Working together, we developed and delivered a campaign aimed at encouraging local organisations and businesses to become more dementia friendly.
Activities included morning teas, a Christmas BBQ, a performance by the Bigger Hearts Choir with afternoon tea and a ‘Become a Dementia Friend’ training session for community members and Ballarat Neighbourhood Centre staff. These activities aimed to broaden awareness in the community of the experiences of people living with dementia and their loved ones who are also usually carers. This project was a fantastic opportunity to grow awareness of how we can all support those living with dementia in our community. To find out how you and your community can become more dementia friendly, visit Dementia Australia.
Live Dementia Activities Calendar
In mid 2024, we received a small grant to:
- run activities for people living with dementia and
- to compliment the work being done by local organisations with a broader community awareness campaign.
This resulted in the creation of the Live Dementia Activities Calendar, launched at a morning tea on Tuesday 24th September 2024 to a group of passionate dementia advocates.
Over six months the project team explored ways a simple and easy to use calendar could support carers and people with dementia to find dementia friendly activities. After trialling different calendar options, the team settled on using the City of Ballarat's Community Directory.
Any community group can set-up an account and upload events to the Community Directory. When creating your event, ensure you add the words ‘dementia-friendly’ in your event description, and in the other available notes and details sections. Once your event is created, people can then find it by typing ‘dementia-friendly’ in the search bar at the top of the site.
