BEMBRIDGE village hall welcomed a chief nurse ahead of Dementia Action Week.

Hilda Hayo, Chief Executive and Chief Admiral of Dementia UK, was invited to raise awareness of the Admiral Nurse campaign, alongside Lady Sally Grylls.

Admiral Nurses work in the community for the NHS, and in care homes, hospitals and hospices and Hilda advocated for more Admiral Nurses to be employed on the Island.

Dementia UK aims to employ 800 nurses across the UK by 2020 — in 2017 they recruited just over 200.

The meeting was well attended by people interested to meet Hilda, including Deacon Revd Corinne Smith.

Lady Grylls has been involved with the campaign since 2013, after she broke her leg and was admitted to hospital.

Lady Grylls said: "There were frightened people on the ward with dementia. It felt like a calling to help."

Rob Da Bank and Bob Dylan have also supported the campaign, alongside Playlist for Life, a music and dementia charity specialising in personal playlists.

Dementia Action Week — formerly known as Dementia Awareness Week — runs from May 20 until Sunday (May 26).

To celebrate the week, non-profit community enterprise Nature Therapy partnered with the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, to offer one hour trips at a reduced rate, for people with dementia, carers, friends and family.

Lady Grylls waved off the special departure from the platform.

Various charities and organisations were at the station to offer advice on services and activities open to those suffering with memory loss ­— including Admiral Nurses, Nature Therapy, Dementia Pathfinders, Drumming for Dementia, Bodster, Age UK, the Alzheimers Cafes, and the NHS Memory Service.

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