Swindon Town Football Club are proud to have joined forces with Forget Me Not for Dementia Loss and lend our support to their recent memory walk, which has raised more than £3,500 to help families who have lost loved ones to the illness.
Setup by local resident Julie Child two years ago, she formed the support group on Facebook for people to grieve and remember loved ones in various different ways, and they often fundraise by producing hand painted glassware.
Since their formation in 2020, they’ve raised over £3,000 through their crafts.
To take their fundraising a step further, Julie and her team decided to organise a charity 5-kilometre memory walk last month to mark their second anniversary.
Town Chief Executive Rob Angus attended on behalf of the football club to show our support and see the group off from Lydiard Park, donating a match ball signed by the Town squad and some family tickets for an upcoming home league game.
The event was a huge success – so much so the group were able to eclipse their total fundraising figure in just one afternoon.
Speaking from Lydiard Park, Rob Angus, said: “Forget Me Not for Dementia Loss do so much great work in our local community and have become a lifeline for families dealing with the loss of loved ones from the illness.
“Julie and her team work tirelessly to ensure they provide the very best support to those that need it most and their work is invaluable to those they help, so we were honoured they approached us to help raise awareness of the event and enhance their profile.”
Forget Me Not for Dementia Loss Founder, Julie Child, said: “I sadly lost my beautiful mother Eve to Parkinson’s back in 2019, and felt I had nowhere to turn to get the support I needed in trying to grieve, so I setup this private support group on Facebook and it’s grown rapidly with more than 550 members to date.
“We’re delighted we’ve been able to raise more than £7,400 for Dementia UK through selling our hand painted glassware and our recent memory walk.
“We couldn’t have done this without the amazing efforts of the football club, especially Rob Angus and Caroline Lane, who have helped raise our profile and awareness of what we do.
“So many people are getting on board now and hopefully we can keep making a huge difference to families. We look forward to continuing our work with Swindon Town and together, we’ll be okay.”
If you would like to find out more about Forget Me Not for Dementia Loss, you can visit their Facebook page by searching their name.
