Northern’s Bentham Line continues to spread the word and work with others to deliver a dementia-friendly railway.

On Thursday 18 May – which fell during Dementia Action Week – the Leeds–Morecambe Community Rail Partnership (CRP) and Northern shared their experiences of establishing the Bentham line as a dementia-friendly railway at an event at Leeds Civic Hall.

The event was attended by many groups and organisations providing services to people living with dementia, and was arranged by Dementia Friendly Leeds.

Leeds Dementia Commissioner Tim Sanders gave a short presentation, and Warren, from the Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project (DEEP) a national project for dementia voices, spoke about his experiences of being diagnosed with dementia.

The Bentham Line has achieved dementia-friendly status through:

• considering its station and train environments
• running dementia friends sessions that raise awareness among staff and volunteers
• arranging visits designed to support people living with dementia and their carers.

A recent example of these visits was a trip by train to Carnforth.

The Bentham Line took the Bentham Wednesday Lunch Club by train to have lunch in Carnforth’s station buffet, which achieved fame in the 1945 film ‘Brief Encounter’.

After lunch, participants took a tour of the various displays in the Heritage Centre next door. This helps people with dementia to recall memories of their youth. The Carnforth site is entirely under cover, so the outing would be pleasant even if the weather was not!

“These trips allow individuals to experience feelings from the past as they travel to the seaside or country by train and provide an opportunity to reminisce,” said Rod Tickner, vice chair of the Community Rail Partnership, who is an Alzheimer Society’s Dementia Friends Ambassador and is involved with raising awareness with groups along the 75-miles Bentham Line. “It is important to maintain independence for those living with dementia and being able to travel safely and easily is very much part of that, ” he added.