We are delighted that the match against Darlington Supporters Group, followed by a fantastic night thanks to Switch of Play, raised £900 to be shared between two dementia charities. Thanks to everyone that took part in the game, including Tommy Miller and Graeme Lee, and to everyone that supported the event.
As well as the link up with Head Safe Football, you can read our interview with founder Judith Gates here. Since the interview and event, we were saddened to hear the news that her husband, Bill has passed away. Everyone at HUST sends our condolences to Judith and her family.
Last month’s awareness and fundraiser event also saw HUST working with the Hospital of God, a local charity that supports people with dementia. We wanted to understand what barriers those with dementia may have in attending Pools games and the Hospital of God helped us to find out. We also bought some match tickets for service users from their early-dementia onset group for the game against Dorking.
Apart from the result, HUST’s guests had a great time, including Anne who attended her very first game, “absolutely loved it” and was impressed with the facilities at the Suit Direct Stadium. The partnership did highlight some challenges for those attending the game which had strong similarities to those we’d discovered through our previous link-up with the North East Autism Society. Like those that are autistic, supporters with dementia can find the experience overwhelming, particularly the noise of the crowd, and may need additional support to find their way into, and around, the ground. As a suggestion to support with this, Hospital of God recognised that the previous ‘Visual Story’ that HUST created to help autistic supporters is something that may also help supporters with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. If this is something that supporters wish to use then this is available here. We have also provided some feedback to the club based on the link-up and offered to help in further supporting those with dementia or Alzheimer’s in attending games.