Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

My lovely mum is 92 and has lived a great life.Born in Hackney, East London, the youngest of 5.When she left  school at 14 she worked in an office,and when she was 16, she  watched for fires started by incendiary bombs after bombing raids during the blitz. She then went to live with her sister near Stoke on Trent, and got a job doing clerical work at an airfield where they trained fighter pilots. 

Mum then served in the armed forces until the end of the war, during which time, she met my dad, when they were both stationed in Winchester, and they married in 1948. She bought up my brother and I and helped my dad run a successful business in London. When dad fell ill with cancer, mum was already 77 years old, but nursed and looked after Dad for three tough years, taking charge of all the things he used to do but was now no longer able to, always with a smile on her face (and a large Gin and Tonic in her hand) 

A few years ago, we noticed mum having trouble. She phoned me one day and said she didn't have the 7 shillings she needed to pay her cleaner.When I said, "mum, it's 7 pounds,not shillings" she told me not to be bloody daft, she didn't earn 7 pounds in a week.  It was a steady downward spiral from then, sometimes she was very lucid and quick witted, sometimes not so good. We had carers go in to see her everyday,and they were wonderful with her, but she still spent quite a bit of time alone, and these were the times that she would get anxious.

Last summer, mum had reached the point where we couldn't really let her live alone any more. She had started to wander, and was very disorientated as soon as she left her front door.She moved in with my brother and sister in law who has given up her job to look after mum  full time. I know from first hand, it is the toughest job she could ever do. Sometimes mum can be difficult and aggressive, which is not like her at all, but it can be very upsetting when you are on the receiving end of it. Occasionally she has moments of clarity, but they are getting less and less, and it is heartbreaking to see a loved one struggling with the simple, normal everyday things.People with Dementia often feel that they are stupid, when of course they are not stupid, just struggling with memory.It is a condition that robs people of their dignity, and unfortunately, so little is really known about it. As our population grows older, more and more people will suffer, and it can be very stressful for them,and their families.Nobody is exempt and it can strike pretty much at random, there is no history of it in mums family. The Government seems to have finally woken up to the size of the problem, but at the moment, families and charities like Dementia UK and the Alzheimers Society bear the brunt of the problem. 

I have set myself a challenge to ride my bike from Edinburgh to London, in 7 days, to try to raise £1000 for Dementia UK.I am paying all the travel,overnight accommodation,food,(and maybe even the odd beer) myself, so all the money goes straight to the charity. 

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Graham