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| TX: 13.10.08 - Dementia - Cliff Richard's Cafe PRESENTER: JULIAN WORRICKER |
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| Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. WORRICKER Now exactly a year ago this week Sir Cliff Richard's mother died after living with dementia for more than 10 years. He gave a memorably moving interview to our report Carolyn Atkinson back in October 2006 about his reaction and that of his family to her illness. His mother has since died but his work goes on for the cause of dementia. Well Carolyn is here and you've caught up with Sir Cliff again Carolyn. ATKINSON Yes he was recently at the Dementia Cafe in Weybridge in Surrey, it's run by the Alzheimer's Society and Sir Cliff got out his not insubstantial chequebook and basically helped to pay for some of it. Now he lived in the town for more than 30 years and he supports lots of local groups and continues to do so in this way. The cafe itself is part of a network, there are 84 dementia cafes run by the Alzheimer's Society, across England, Wales and Northern Ireland and they basically offer people with dementia and their carers what they call a peer support network. That's basically the chance to swap experiences of dementia over a cup of tea, a piece of cake, speaking to other people who know what it's like, who are going through the same thing. And there's lots of advice there and also help on hand. And it's all based on a Dutch idea. Now what you're going to hear are extracts from that original interview with Sir Cliff and my visit to the cafe, where organiser Lynn, presented the singer with a huge cake, decorated with his name and decorated with two guitars, he did the honours and he started cutting. ACTUALITY RICHARD Oh I can feel that sponge, oh it's oozing cream. [Clapping and singing Congratulations]... LYNN It's a big day because with Cliff's help we raised the funds to actually open this cafe four years ago. ATKINSON And without him? LYNN Without him it wouldn't have been possible. ATKINSON And it's a fantastic big airy lounge, a big cafe area, lovely lawn to look out on, all very plush, very upholstered. LYNN Yes, yes. We like our clients, our carers and people with dementia to be comfortable and enjoy and relax with the atmosphere. For Cliff to give us this time is fantastic for the society, fantastic for people with dementia. We've been kept in the closure too long and we need to come out. RICHARD We thought her memory was going and of course we used to joke about it and say - she'd say oh I'm getting so stupid, she said, I can't remember. I'd say oh come on now I can't even remember what I'm doing tomorrow. If only we'd known, you know, and of course there was a point then when, for instance, my sister used to tell me - because my sister looked after my mother - she'd say - mother, she's being so belligerent and they used to get into arguments. Now my sister says to me - oh if only I'd known, if only I had known early - early on that this is what it was I would have just said yes mum, no mum and just made her happy because that's all we can do. ACTUALITY LYNN Welcome Cliff. RICHARD Thank you, how are you doing here? LYNN We're doing fine. We're very relaxed, we're chilled out. RICHARD Jolly good. LYNN And we're extremely pleased that you could actually come and visit us. Somebody said - Is there a photograph of your mum in her heyday, in the room? I said - No she's got all the family pictures and there's some little picture. They said - No, no I mean a real big picture. And we found a fantastic picture of my mum, she was just preparing to go to one of my film premiers, she looked great, she looked fantastic. And I had this picture blown up and it's on the wall and it's on the wall so that these good folks in the home, when they come in, they look and go this is the woman we're looking after, this is not just a shell, this is what she used to be. And hopefully it inspires them to see their patients, not just as an object or a statistic or someone that can't remember or think or talk, but someone who actually had a life. ACTUALITY RICHARD Nice to meet you, I'm Cliff Richard. Oh do you know me? LYNN This is Eddie, he has dementia. RICHARD Oh Eddie, hi. Hi Eddie. LYNN And this is his wife who looks after him. RICHARD Hello, nice to see you. How's your tea, tea is good? EDDIE If it didn't taste good I wouldn't buy it. RICHARD You're absolutely right, what a great attitude, I must remember that - it doesn't taste good don't drink it. Fantastic, nice to meet you. LYNN This is Judy. Judy used to look after her mother who was a regular visitor and actually our very first person with dementia at the cafe. RICHARD You're kidding, really? LYNN Yeah. RICHARD Oh really. When did you lose your mother? JUDY Eighteen months ago. RICHARD Eighteen months ago, yeah, so it's all still fresh. And how long did she suffer with that? How long was your mother suffering? JUDY About just over seven years. RICHARD Yeah my mum kind of - 11 years I think my mum. Yeah but it sort of accelerated though, was that the same with your mum? JUDY Yes. RICHARD It suddenly went really bad and suddenly she didn't know who we were and suddenly she wouldn't walk anymore. Anyway nice to meet you. RICHARD The Alzheimer's help line was very helpful. They were able to say to us - Has your mum pulled her bed away from the wall? And we said no. Within a month my mother had pulled this bed away but we'd been warned, this was what she's going to do and I think that's to be expected, for some reason she felt - I don't know whether she thought things were going to climb up the wall. They also, when we phoned them once, said - Is she sleeping on the sofa and maybe got her overcoat? A few weeks later my mother was sleeping on the sofa with her overcoat on her. So we were prepared for these little things. ATKINSON In terms of the way dementia is portrayed now do you think things are beginning to change? RICHARD I'd like to think it was but there's still a ways to go. I mean money is always going to be the answer for things like this to research into the causes and hopefully find a cure but I think people are talking about it much more freely and that's always a good start isn't it. I know my family and I have been through dementia with my mother and before that we never really quite realised what it all meant but it was a big eye opener for us and a big lesson for us all. And now I find myself able to talk about it quite openly and say that my mum had suffered the problem, so yeah I think it's - I think we're on the way to improving things. ATKINSON Do you think you talking publicly and we've recently had Carol Thatcher talking about Mrs Thatcher, do you think that genuinely makes a difference? RICHARD I think it does, I mean particularly when someone like Maggie Thatcher, who everybody knows and knows that this was a vibrant woman, regardless of whether you agreed with her politics or not, this was a vibrant woman that led our country and helped bring us out of a recession. To think that that can happen to her, that she can suffer Alzheimer's or dementia, that must make it a little easier for people to deal with. But what's never going to change until it's got a cure is the fact that even though it's easier to talk about and deal with and you still have to deal with it, it's still something that is really hard to cope with. My mother changed from being a vibrant woman and in an 11 year period she deteriorated so quickly, only last year did she die, but it was quite horrifying to find that this person that was so lively and bright was suddenly lifeless. ATKINSON You've had a personal involvement in this haven't you, in the refurbishment of this marvellous cafe. RICHARD Yes I have, I used to live here in Weybridge and I like to feel that I was involved in the community, and so I support it whenever I could. But I'm in one of those fortuitous positions where I'm able to do things and I do what I can, it's not always huge but it's - everything that we can do is important. ACTUALITY LYNN Finally this is Bill and Helen. BILL I did meet you about 45 years, 48 years ago. RICHARD Forty five years - I was a child. BILL Yeah you was, you was doing your Hammersmith - you was doing your - at the Commodore Hammersmith, I was a young lad doing the lights and that. RICHARD No, it wasn't the Commodore, was it the Commodore Hammersmith, is that what it was called? What's now called the Apollo? BILL Apollo yeah, that's it. That's right yeah. And I was the young lad sent down by ABC to do some of the spotlights and all that sort of thing and you was a young lad yourself. RICHARD Well forty five years ago I was I tell you. In fact 45 years ago it would have been just when the Beatles were starting and I'd been singing for five years before then. [Singing - Congratulations and clapping] WORRICKER Sir Cliff Richard in good voice. And presumably, Carolyn, the Alzheimer's Society would like to expand this cafe network even if Sir Cliff can't organise the signing at every single one of them, or maybe he can? ATKINSON Worth a call I'd say, worth a call. Yes they're definitely expanding all these cafes and the society's also hoping that the new dementia strategy, which is going to be published in November, will embrace this idea of peer support networks, as well as bringing in general improvements to dementia care. WORRICKER And if you'd like to hear more from Cliff Richard talking about his mother's dementia, as well as many aspects of his 50 years in show business, he will be talking to Sally Magnusson in a special edition of Songs of Praise, that's on BBC1 on Sunday 7th December. ATKINSON And that report and my original interview will be available to hear again on our website later today. WORRICKER Carolyn, thanks very much for that. Back to the You and Yours homepage The BBC is not responsible for external websites |
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