March into Spring is inspired by our very own Forget Me Not Club (FMNC) members who are located throughout Aberdeenshire. If we were to visit each of our members, we would cover a distance of 125miles. Come with us for the journey ...

Taking in the sights of the beautiful river Dee from Banchory to Aboyne and onwards to Ballater; heading East back to Banchory, passing the Statue of Rob Roy McGregor in Peterculter, before passing through the Granite City and Aberdeens Union Street; onto Pittodrie, the home of the Dons, then heading South, following the scenic North Sea Coast towards Stonehaven; out into Garioch, through Westhill and onto Kemnay before heading back to Bennett House for a well-earned cuppa and a scone.

Forget Me Not Club provides vital support to not only those living with dementia, but also their carers and family members throughout Aberdeenshire. Ordinarily offering day respite from our resource centre in Banchory and providing in the region of 600 hours of care per week, FMNC welcomes our members to enjoy an array of activities, live entertainment, refreshments, home bakes and a home cooked meal provided by our in-house cook.

Transport provision is available for members who live within a 10-mile radius of Banchory and we have many other members attending our resource centre from across Aberdeen City & Shire.

It costs in the region of £250k to run Forget Me Not Club each year. There is no charge for members to attend FMNC, relying solely on the generosity and kindness of our fantastic support network who provide donations, in addition to income received from grants and fundraising events.

Covid-19 has had a huge impact on our charity in varying ways but no more than the impact experienced by our members and their carers. Unfortunately, attending our resource centre is currently not an option for our members and, although we managed to welcome some back briefly in December, this has been the default position since March 2020. Isolation has been an ongoing and significant issue for many, which is heart-breaking for all involved. The development of our Virtual FMNC, provision of digital devices and our Outreach services have helped to build a bridge, enabling us to keep our members connected with their much loved Forget Me Not Family.

The continuing changes to Covid-19 restrictions and subsequent adaptations to our service have helped us realise that support can be provided in a variety of ways and, although not the same as visiting our resource centre, these changes have enabled us to bring more to our offerings.

Since March 2020, we have been providing online activities, chair exercise, memory sessions and live entertainment on a regular basis. We have a wonderful network of volunteers and entertainers who are all part of our weekly timetable and we also provide a weekly session specifically for carers.

We were able to provide and distribute 10 devices around our members, carers and volunteers, enabling them to join in with our online sessions.

Outreach Doorstep Visits were introduced towards the end of summer, as restrictions were relaxed, allowing our team to get out delivering bakery boxes, DVDs and providing that all-important face to face contact to our members. The team even managed to get some of our more active members out for socially distanced strolls, which was a great boost to all involved.

We very much look forward to being able to welcome our members back soon but appreciate it may be some time yet before that can happen. In the meantime, we continue to provide our Virtual FMNC and when restrictions allow, we will reintroduce our Outreach service.

By signing up for March into Spring, you are helping us to support all our Forget Me Not Club members, carers and their families as much as possible.

Thank you for helping to make a difference - your support helps us support others.

Good luck and have fun with the challenge! Well look forward to watching your progress.

From all the team,

Forget Me Not Club x