I have been coming to the Sunshine Club since the service began in 2012. My wife Mary, who passed away last year, was referred to Home Matters Dementia Support following her dementia diagnosis. We were advised to come to the Sunshine Club, which is formally known as Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) and to have some one-to-one support to give us both some quality of life and to avoid social isolation.

We were hesitant to begin with but we both had such a good time at the Sunshine Club and Mary used to think of her Support Worker, Lesley, like a daughter. During every CST session, we had a hot meal and pudding which was lovely because I knew we would have a proper dinner on that day even though I was looking after Mary. The ladies who run the Sunshine Club are now known as ‘my Angels’ because they brought us both out of the house to meet with good friends and have fun every week. Mary always enjoyed herself and talking to the other members – something which was very unlike her as she had always been a private person who preferred to keep herself to herself.

Home Matters has always been there with a listening ear when I have needed them and although I was the Carer and not the one who had Dementia, my needs have always been seen as equally important to Mary’s and the emphasis of support was on both Mary and I jointly, as a family unit, rather than just Mary alone.

Ben is still a regular attendee to the Sunshine Club on both a Monday and Thursday, we made him one of our honorary members following Mary’s passing. Ben greatly enjoyes coming to see his friends, reminiscing about days gone by and using his personal experiences of Dementia to help make a difference to their lives. He says that the group is now a big part of his life and he has made life-long friends, whom he cares about very much

Mr B West Midlands.