Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

Lets start by telling you a little about us and 'why' we chose Dementia UK.

Before taking over The Black Bull I (Nicola) was a fuller than full time Community Care Worker, a role I loved and was incredibly passionate about. Unfortunately that passion led to being overworked and becoming physically and mentally exhausted, to the point I closed my eyes at the wheel and wrote my own and someone else's car off. Hence the career change. But during my years in Community Care I worked with hundreds of Dementia clients which I found was my favourite field to work in and led me down the path of officially qualifying in Dementia Care. My heart is still with a lot of my clients who I refer to as my 'Nana's and Grandad's' and I'd love to raise money in their memories. I'd also be honoured to help raise as much money as possible to help Dementia UK who do a lot of work with both sufferers and their families as well as lots of behind the scenes work.

David on the other hand, he has one huge personal reason for wanting to raise money for Dementia UK, his Aunty Maureen.

Sadly Aunty Maureen passed away recently, from Dementia, so David witnessed first hand how cruel and savage the disease can be, how it strips the person of their identity, memories and ability to even manage their own self-care. He and his brothers had to stand by and watch the woman they devoted their lives to slowly slip away from them, forgetting who they were and what each of them meant to her, which was absolutely everything. If you know David, you never knew him around Aunty Maureen, he was a whole different person, there was no swearing, no drinking, everything he did was with her in mind. If she didn't approve then he didn't do it. It was beyond respect, it was out of pure adoration and love.

Aunty Maureen didn't have any children of her own, she was the woman who had been more of a mother to them than anyone else, the woman who after their troubled childhood gave them love, calmness, comfort and safety. To say there have been some hearts left broken would be an understatement.

So here we are, planning a family fundraiser. We've reached out to some of the artists who get the best feedback from our live music nights and asked them to help us make this day as loud and lively as possible and they're all doing their bit free of charge. We have locals doing a sponsored bike ride, we plan to auction off the old Black Bull signs and lights and LOTS more that we're still working on behind the scenes.

We hope to make this day as much fun as possible with the intention of raising vital funds for Dementia UK so we would love to see as many people as possible!

xxx