Nexus to look at how to make Metro more dementia friendly as £10,000 fundraising mission announced

Andrew Ball from Alzheimers Society and Tobyn Hughes, Nexus .

The public body, which runs the Tyne and Wear Metro, will raise funds throughout the year for Alzheimer’s Society as its chosen charity.

The charity was selected by the 1,000-strong workforce and a minimum target of raising £10,000 has been set.

The tie up with the charity will include dementia awareness sessions for staff, and a close look at how public transport services can be made more dementia friendly.

Managing director of Nexus, Tobyn Hughes, said: “Dementia awareness is such a huge issue in our society so I’m delighted to announce that our staff have chosen to support Alzheimer’s Society in 2019.

“We’re aiming to raise £10,000 and that money will benefit people across the North East who have dementia.

“Just like last year I expect a lot of our staff will give up their own time to get involved and help us towards our fundraising target by holding a whole host of events including cake sales, golf days, fun runs and charity walks.

“Our staff will also benefit from dementia awareness sessions and more work can be done to see how we make Metro more dementia friendly.”

There are 850,000 people in the UK with dementia, including around 35,000 in the North East – and the national figure is set to rise to one million by 2021.

Dementia is now the UK’s biggest killer, with someone developing it every three minutes.

Community fundraiser Dan Nelson said: “It’s great news that a high profile company such as Nexus has thrown its weight behind our cause, especially given the ambitious target it has set.

“We rely heavily on our fundraisers, whose amazing efforts help us support people living with dementia, as well as investing in research to improve treatment and ultimately find a cure.”

Andrew Ball, the charity’s Dementia Friends National Operations Manager, added: “I’m delighted that, in addition to fundraising, Nexus is taking the opportunity to increase awareness of dementia among its staff and to make its services more dementia friendly.

“It’s so important that people living with dementia feel confident and able to use public transport and that dementia friendly initiatives are in place to assist them.”

In 2018 Nexus staff successfully raised £10,000 for the Tyneside and Northumberland Mind charity.