Dementia Week 2024: Fundraiser for the EDAA and Eastbourne Dementia Club

Arlington Bluebell Walk Monday 13th of May

This being Dementia Awareness Week, we volunteered with the Eastbourne Dementia Action Alliance (EDAA) and the recently formed Eastbourne Dementia Club, run by Carol McHale, at the Arlington Bluebell Walk at Bates Green Farm. Farm owner John McCutchan has been running the walk - in a manner of speaking - for over 50 years, raising over a million pounds for charity.

Volunteers of all ages manned not only the café and kitchen, but also directed cars to park in the right spot (or field, rather), collected the entrance fees, handed over mobility scooters and wheelchairs at the meet & greet, kept the toilets clean and fresh and, finally, made sure the whole place was as sparkling when they left as when they had arrived in the morning.  EDAA Trustee, Treasurer and Volunteer Coordinator Jenny Eldrige and erstwhile Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd, also EDAA Trustee, made sure everyone found their right stations and kept the show on the road for the whole day,

The café was a little quiet in the morning, possibly due to the weather having switched from brilliant, hot sunshine to a barely-there drizzle and some pale grey skies, but soon enough it was full of activity, with visitors on two and four legs alike having enjoyed a beautiful walk in the countryside and returning to the barn in need of calories.

Eastbourne’s mayor, Cllr Candy Vaughan, had contributed a very professional looking chocolate fudge cake, a Victoria sponge (which we can confirm first hand was truly delicious) and cupcakes, and other volunteers had contributed Amaretto cake, flap jacks, lemon drizzle cake (with gluten and without), carrot cake, mocha cake… The hardest bit was trying not to dive headfirst into the serving counter, but we were richly rewarded after our shifts with some samples.

A total of £1,090 was raised from the day, making £545 each for the EDAA and the Eastbourne Dementia Club. This is a fantastic result and will help both organisations with the important work they are doing to support people with dementia in the community. We look forward to taking part again next year – we might even get a chance to see some bluebells!

The Bluebell Walk is over for this year, but you can still visit Bates Green Garden and explore Beatons Wood every Wednesday until the end of October.