St Ives Dementia Friendly Community and popular local community cinema Screen St Ives are collaborating on a special dementia friendly film screening.
On Wednesday 14 August we will show the classic musical comedy Calamity Jane which stars Doris Day and features many sing-a-long numbers such as Whip-Crack-Away and Secret Love.
The film has been specially selected to appeal to the widest possible audience. The screening will be carefully presented to suit those living with dementia so that they can enjoy a fun cinematic experience in a relaxed, safe, and friendly space. The film will be introduced and then shown with a break in the middle and low lighting in the auditorium throughout.
There will be space for wheelchairs and for the audience to move around if necessary. Singing and talking will be encouraged, and specially trained volunteers will be on hand to make sure those with dementia, as well as their partners, friends, and carers, are able to have a fantastic time. Extra signs will help people find their way around the venue.
The screening will take place in the Tony Burgess Room, upstairs at the Corn Exchange in St Ives. There will be free refreshments after the film and the opportunity for a friendly chat.
Doors open at 1:00pm for a 1:30pm start. Tickets are £5 and free for carers. They are available online, at the Corn Exchange in advance, or on the door.
Notes for editors
Screen St Ives
An independent community cinema for St Ives, Cambs, Screen St Ives (SSI) is based at the Corn Exchange in the centre of town. Founded in 2011 by a group of film enthusiasts, SSI offers a diverse programme of twice-monthly film screenings as well as other special screenings.
Facilities include: central location, a friendly welcome, disabled toilet, lift, as well as easy access to the guided busway.
Film Screenings
● Screen 1: “The biggest films on our biggest screen”: the third Friday of each month in the main Charter Hall at St Ives Corn Exchange. Where people can enjoy all the spectacle of the latest films on a large 6.5m wide screen.
● Screen 2: “A window on the world”: the first Thursday in the month upstairs in the Tony Burgess Room. S2 launched in August 2017 following a successful application for British Film Institute funding to buy new projection equipment. The award recognised SSI’s work in bringing diverse, entertaining, and thought-provoking films to the residents of St Ives and beyond. Screen 2 events take place in a more intimate space upstairs with special introductions, screening notes, and friendly, relaxed, optional post film discussions.
St Ives Dementia Friendly Community and Alzheimer’s Society
The group aims to grow as a place where people living with dementia are respected, understood and can actively participate as valued members of the community.
Headed up by Ian Jackson, continuing his work with the Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Friends initiative from his previous role as Town Mayor, the group is spreading awareness and understanding of dementia in St Ives.
Retail and other businesses have been approached and offered free Dementia Friends awareness sessions and asked to make positive changes to their customer-facing environment. To date over twenty window stickers have been issued to those premises that have attended awareness sessions and committed to the cause.
Along the way hundreds of Dementia Friends have been recruited and many regular dementia friendly activities set up. St Ives is now recognised by the Alzheimer’s Society as working to become a Dementia Friendly Community – the first in Cambridgeshire.