Around 1,000 people descended on Aintree racecourse at the weekend to help raise funds and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Society in its annual Memory Walk.
In Merseyside alone, there at 16,000 people living with dementia, and the Alzheimer’s Society, along with BUPA, are raising money for those affected by dementia and for research into cures by holding Memory Walks all over the UK throughout September.
A spokesman for the Alzheimer’s Society, Howard Keal, told JMU Journalism: “It was a fabulous day; the support from people in Merseyside was magnificent. It showed the brilliant community spirit in Liverpool and the great understanding of the huge need to support people living with dementia.”
Star dressmaker of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, Thelma Madine, attended and created one of her enormous gowns for the event. She said: “It is fantastic that so many people joined together from across Merseyside to back Aintree Memory Walk and have a wonderful day out while fighting the disease every step of the way.”
Many volunteered, helping with organising people and putting on small displays to entertain the walkers.
Laura Braithwaite, a regular volunteer at Alzheimer’s events, told JMU Journalism: “I volunteer anyway because my grandad had Alzheimer’s himself. At the walk today, I helped to make the ‘memory wall’, basically tying on little tags with people’s messages on, saying why and who they were doing the walk for.”
More than 750 walkers signed up online before the event, but around 1,000 medals were given out on the day, making the Aintree Memory Walk the biggest in the country for the second year running.
James Heywood, from Manchester, said: “I was walking for my grandma who passed away in June. We thought it was a good way to remember her and there were her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren walking. We raised about £600 all together.”