WOOD HELP LOCAL CHARITY

Boreham Wood Football Club were again delighted to be able to make a donation of £1,000 to Elstree and Borehamwood Dementia Club.

The football club always try to help community initiatives where possible by doing their bit, and the Chairman prides himself on the work that he and the staff at the club are able to do within the local area.  

The Dementia Support Group was formed in 2016, by town Councillors Sandra Parnell, Eric Silver and Pat Strack, with Sasha Capocci and Dr Ann Goddard.

The club launched in July 2017 and has in truth been a remarkable success. The group is supported by Elstree and Borehamwood Town Council, Tesco and Rotary.

On the Dementia Support Group, town Councillor Sandra Parnell explained: “The people that come here, they light up when they come in and they tell us that it lights up their lives.

“We have entertainment, we have exercise and they come in and have tea and coffee and cakes and we celebrate their birthdays with them.

“It’s a very near to your heart club, so it’s such an achievement for us to have done this I think, because some of these people are forgotten.

“We have someone there who has got the start of dementia, but he used to go around the clubs singing. I was at Jewish Care for 13 years and he used to come around to sing for us.

“He still comes and sings at our club and they love him, and of course it’s fantastic for him, it’s his world and makes him very happy and proud.

“He does the actions as well, the Frank Sinatra actions where you cross your leg over the front then back and he remembers every word.”

The Dementia Club has around 35 members and now run every Tuesday, because of how successful the club has been.

Cllr Sandra Parnell continued: “It’s very welcoming and it’s like our own family. The people who are there, have the same thing and it’s like they speak the same language, because they can talk about dementia and they can learn from each other.

“it’s a very unusual and magic place, we have one man here and he hasn’t got dementia, but he comes to the club because he likes the singing and he’s lonely, because it’s a place where you can come to speak to people.”

In regards to the Boreham Wood Chairman’s generous donation, she said: “It’s an exceptional club and Danny has been very good with us. He’s done the bag packing down at Tesco and he funds the Mencap and learning difficulty group’s Christmas parties. And, when we do collections or raffles, he often matches the funds that we get.

“He has been very, very good with us to the extreme, he’s wonderful with us. He’s a very philanthropic man, he’s very kind, he knows what he’s giving to and he gives to it because he wants to.

“All of you at the club, it’s like an extended family, I just feel like part of it. People say to me, you go (to matches) on your own and I say yes, because it’s like my family. I go and talk to everyone because they’re so friendly and make you feel at home. I love the club.

“It is all down to Danny, because he’s that type of man and he has empathy for local people. There are loads of people who don’t have empathy for others, they don’t have that feeling for people that you’re meant to.”

Sasha Capocci helped to form the Dementia Club with Sandra Parnell and now helps to run the weekly sessions. She added: “I think it’s fun for them, we sit down there, and we can see that they come in for fun and completely forget about having dementia, it’s another world.

“I think that we need people like Danny Hunter, to help to carry on our Dementia club and help other people, otherwise, everything would stop.”