Dementia-friendly cinemascreenings at arts centre

Home Instead Senior Care, which provides home care services for older people at Havant and Waterlooville, has partnered with the Spring Arts and Heritage Centre to provide relaxed dementia-friendly Forget-Me-Not cinema screenings.

Mark Gettinby, the owner of the care company, was inspired after talking to one of his clients, an ex-arts lecturer who loves films but is unable to attend the cinema due to a problem with the circulation in his legs, which means he must regularly get up and walk around.

The next Forget-Me-Not Cinema will be held on Monday, June 5, at 11am and Casablanca will be shown.

That will be followed by Brief Encounter on Monday, July 3 at 11am.

To Catch a Thief will be screened on Monday, August 7 at the same time.

Jon Woodley, from The Spring, said: ‘At The Spring we strive to ensure that we can offer everybody the chance to enjoy the arts and our performances and screenings.

‘We are delighted that The Spring has been able to partner up with Home Instead Senior Care to provide these screenings for members of our community who may not otherwise be able to access the cinema.

‘We hope they enjoy our choices for the first three screenings, but please get in touch with any suggestions for the future.’

All the special screenings will have a relaxed atmosphere with lights dimmed rather than switched off and people are free to move around the cinema.

There will also be Home Instead Senior Care dementia specialists on hand.

Mr Gettinby said: ‘At Home Instead many of our clients are living with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia, so we understand the challenges faced by family carers.

‘The dementia-friendly cinema screenings are a wonderful opportunity for people living with dementia, their friends and family to have time together in a safe environment, watching wonderful movies.’

Tickets are £3.50 each or £4.50 with tea or coffee. Call (023) 9247 2700 or go to thespring.co.uk.