D-CaFF – News & Events

2/6/20 – D-CaFF Wins Queens Award for Voluntary Service

Great news, we are pleased to announce that D-CaFF, the place to meet for people living with dementia, their carers, family and friends based at Greenmount Cricket Club has been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.  This is in recognition of the incredible work the volunteers do to support people in our community.

The volunteers are the driving force behind D-CaFF – a social gathering that takes place in Greenmount, Bury, twice a month to provide social time, activities and entertainment for around 100 members. The get-togethers are designed to enable people living with dementia to live well, by providing them and their carers with a safe, loving environment, a supportive network and an opportunity to have fun, laughter and friendship. Since setting up in 2016, D-CaFF has quickly grown to become a vital part of the dementia-friendly activity landscape in Greater Manchester. The award will be shared by the 35 volunteers from the local community who support D-CaFF. Each volunteer has attended a dementia awareness session linked and run by D-CaFF. Two volunteers trained by the Alzheimer’s Society became Dementia Friends Champions, enabling them to provide the best support possible and run Dementia Friends sessions for the whole community. Additionally, many of the volunteers bring personal experience of supporting someone with dementia. D-CaFF’s eldest volunteer is 93 years old.

The volunteers are led by Joani Beale from Greenmount, who brings both professional and personal experience of supporting people with dementia. On being told of the award Joani said: “We are absolutely delighted that D-CaFF has been recognised with The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.” “D-CaFF is such a wonderful resource for people living with dementia, their carers, family and friends, and is at the heart of our community in Greenmount, Bury. We have a fantastic team of volunteers, who all give a great deal, but also gain so much from being part of the D-CaFF Family. It’s incredible to see the positive difference we can make, and the way our members leave our get togethers feeling so uplifted. We are so proud that all the hard work and support given by the members, volunteers and friends of D-CaFF has been recognised with this prestigious award.’’

Spurred on by the success of D-CaFF, Joani and a smaller group of volunteers have also rolled out a successful outreach project that aims to support organisations and individuals in the wider community with everything from awareness raising, to Dementia Friends training and practical help. D-CaFF Outreach ensures that the good work going on in Greenmount can be shared more widely.

Representatives of D-CaFF will receive the award from the Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester later this summer. Furthermore, two volunteers from D-CaFF will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2021, along with other recipients of this year’s Award. D-CaFF is one of 230 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. The number of nominations has increased year on year since the awards were introduced in 2002, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to make life better for those around them. The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by volunteer groups to benefit their local communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Recipients are announced each year on 2nd June, the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

Congratulations and well done to all involved. What a way to recognise Volunteers week!

13/5/20 – D-CaFF’s 4th Birthday

Hello all!

I hope this message finds you safe and well.

I just wanted to keep you updated as we approach the up coming date of what would have been our 4th birthday celebrations.

I have cancelled all future guests which would have been attending/performing in May, June, July, August and September 2020 with the hope that we can ask them to join us in 2021, when I hope to open the D-CaFF doors again.

We live in uncertain times and I hope and pray our members are safe and managing to cope.

We will be in touch again.

Take care,
Love Joani X

Greenmount Primary School

Greenmount Primary School has started to document its work around Dementia Friends on its website.

Please feel free to visit