SOMERSET County Council has now invested more than £200,000 in creative and imaginative grass roots dementia projects.

New projects receiving backing from the authority include one that offers gardening and hedge-laying activities, and another that focuses on music to support people with dementia and their carers.

The authority is looking to invest more than £500,000 in total to kick-start and extend projects and groups that run day-time activities for people with dementia and provide respite for their unpaid carers.

This is on top of its major spend on support for people with dementia which includes around £3.5 million in special residential care, £4.5m in nursing care, plus a portion of the £14m it spends every year on home care.

Grants so far have supported schemes including the Parks Active Living Group in Minehead which runs two lunch and social groups.

The list of grassroots projects is growing with new projects coming on stream, including:

n Age UK is launching the first charity-led Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) project with two qualified Somerset practitioners offering the therapy. It aims to help those taking part as well as their carers who will get four to six hours a week of “free time”.

n Take Art is setting up a two-year programme of creative daytime activities that provide dance and wordplay sessions to support people with memory loss or dementia and their carers.

n Funding will also cover 39 ten-week music and movement group work courses across Somerset. ‘Find Your Voice’ puts an emphasis on using your voice, taking up space, being loud and expressing yourself.

The council’s grant support scheme, which should eventually see £565,000 awarded, is supporting grass roots. They need to offer innovative, community-based ways of providing support that encourages people with dementia to socialise and take an active part in their communities.

More than £200,00 has been awarded so far, with projects either up and running or about to launch.

Cllr David Huxtable, cabinet member for adult social care, said: “The latest projects to benefit are imaginative and creative and will improve the lives of those with dementia and their devoted carers. This is the kind of support that we want to encourage and help flourish.

“The growing prevalence of dementia is something that all local authorities will need to cope with and cater for in the long-term, and these projects sit alongside the major investment we make every year through our home, residential and nursing care budgets.