“We’ve got to know a lot of people, and what you realise is, you’re not alone. There are a lot of other people in a similar situation.
“The whole thing is just wonderful, how people come together and spend time at these sessions, and I can’t recommend it enough.”
Martin Lund knows only too well the benefits offered by Forget Me Notts, as he negotiates his wife’s dementia diagnosis.
In opening up to share his story, Martin is hoping to inspire people to take a leaf from his book in completing the Trent Bridge Community Trust’s Zip Wire Challenge to raise funds for the scheme.
“We’ve been coming to Forget Me Notts for about 20 months now, attending pretty much every session,” he said.
“My wife enjoys meeting people, spending time with people, doing different activities, and going to different places.
“We’ve met so many caring, kind people here that we thoroughly enjoy coming to the sessions and look forward to them every week.”
Taking place on Sunday 7 September, the Zip Wire Challenge will see participants glide 190m over Trent Bridge at speeds of up to 40mph, raising money to support the delivery of initiatives such as Forget Me Notts.
Martin is taking on the challenge himself, and as he aims to support the scheme to help others, he remembers how he first came across it.
“We hadn’t really been able to find anything like this before. It was six months after my wife’s diagnosis when our next-door neighbour but one introduced us to it,” he explained.
“We were really getting our heads around it at that stage, and we hadn’t really thought what the future was or what was available to us.”
Since then, though, he has found the sessions to be enormously beneficial, and says the positives have been numerous, for both himself and his wife.
“My wife likes dancing, so she particularly enjoys those parts of the sessions, but it’s just the different activities,” he said.
“It’s beneficial for me as well; it offers a bit of respite, but I’m also a bit of an organiser too so I like to help out where I can.
“You get little tips from other people, and different ideas and different thoughts. To put the events on like a Summer Ball is great for us all, and we put it in the calendar.
“I think it gives us all a bit of purpose and a bit of a focus on what you’re doing, that we’re getting up and out. It’s important, for both of us, to keep active.”
Registration for the Zip Wire Challenge costs £50, with participants asked to raise at least a further £100 to support the Trust’s initiatives for disadvantaged people across the county.
Those who raise the most money will have the opportunity to win prizes, ranging from matchday hospitality and VIP recognition at a special event to hampers or family tickets to The Hundred.
Individuals can sign up at trentbridge.co.uk/zipwire.