A football community trust has revealed bold plans to create the world's first community-driven dementia meeting centre located within an active football stadium
Montrose Community Trust plans to open its Montrose Connections dementia meeting centre, which provides a support network and safe space for those living with dementia and their family carers, within SPFL and SWPL club Montrose FC’s Links Park.
This would see the centre, which helps people adjust to living with the symptoms and changes that dementia brings, become the first of its kind within an active football stadium.
The impact of the community trust, which engages with 650 people in the local area every week, is being showcased by the Scottish Professional Football League [SPFL], Scottish Women’s Premier League [SWPL] and charity SPFL Trust as part of the Scottish FA’s Week of Football campaign. The content series celebrates the power of our national sport and shines a light on the inspiring stories from grassroots level to Scotland’s senior national teams.
Kerr Waddell, a former Montrose FC player who still works as project officer for the community trust, said they’re incredibly proud of the charity’s Montrose Connections project and plan to expand it further.
The defender, 27, said: “Our dementia project is the jewel in our crown. This programme is one of the deepest impacts we have
“Our ambition is bold. We want to become the world's first community driven dementia centre within an active football stadium.
“We couldn't do the work we do without the support of the football club, and I'd like to think the football club wouldn't have as many fans - young and old - without the community trust.
“One of our aims is to engage as many adults and kids in the Montrose area as we can. We have 35 programmes, supporting 22,000 participants - that's over half the population of Montrose.
“We had kids in from the local nursery group to visit our participants, which have various levels of dementia. They were all mingling and interacting with each other and it was amazing to see.”
The video feature has a focus on dementia participant Mary, 76, who shares how the trust has supported her since her own diagnosis, and shows her interacting with local nursery kids during a recent visit to their dementia centre, which is currently based elsewhere in the town.
She said: “This place and its staff mean a lot to me. To me it's like an extended family. It's given me confidence. I was crying a lot at first when I was diagnosed. Once I settled down, I was fine.
"Here you're interacting and meeting new people. That's really good.
"It was good interacting with the kids as it brings back memories when my own kids were small.
"With dementia you lose[things], and you don't know how to get it back and that's the bit that gets you. This [attending this project] has given me a lot more confidence because last year I couldn't do what I'm doing now."
She jokes at the end of the video: "If I wasn't here, I'd probably be sitting on my bum at home doing nothing."
Kerr added: “Mary is thriving since she joined us and is a joy to have around.
"She has a great sense of humour and is always up for some fun.”
Nicky Reid, SPFL Trust chief executive, said: “The work Montrose Community Trust do in the local area and beyond is truly incredible.
“It’s been amazing to hear about their ambitious plans to make the project the first of its kind in the world, and how the Montrose Connections programme is improving the lives of people with dementia.
“Football has a unique power to bring people together, and what Montrose Community Trust is doing proves that our clubs and their community trusts are capable of genuinely changing lives."
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