Help us to create Scotland’s first dementia friendly park!
What is dementia friendly?
When people with dementia are understood, respected and supported, and confident they can contribute to community life, we can describe this as being dementia friendly.
Getting active with dementia
Physical activity can bring many benefits for people living with dementia such as improved sleep, physical fitness, confidence, mood and self-esteem. Being active can help improve memory and slow down mental decline as well as reduce the risk of osteoporosis and stroke.
What changes do we want to make to the park?
We want to create a welcoming environment to allow people with dementia and their carers to enjoy greenspace. There are many barriers for someone with dementia accessing the outdoors including a lack of information about accessible outdoor spaces, the services available (parking, paths, terrain, toilets, etc), required level of fitness, costs (e.g. parking), safety concerns and transport issues.
That’s why we propose to make these simple changes to Kings Park in Stirling.
· Increase directional signage
· Improve the park’s greenery
· Increase opportunities for activity in a safe and friendly environment
· Improve accessibility and visibility of park facilities
· Repair uneven paths
· Install more benches
We are currently working with the local community to identify the best ways that we can make Kings Park dementia friendly.
What difference will this make?
For someone living with dementia, getting out for a walk can reduce the feeling of isolation and help them maintain independence for longer.
As part of our Dementia Friendly Walking project, we have spoken to people living with dementia to ask how getting out for a walk can benefit them.
Some commented on the social aspect - “Getting out and about and fresh air, basically and meeting people as well.”
Others enjoyed the mental benefits that a short walk can bring - “It is getting you out. You sort of forget any worries when you are wandering around.”
Who are Paths for All?
Paths for All is the champion of everyday walking in Scotland. Our vision is for a happier, healthier Scotland where physical activity improves quality of life and wellbeing for all.
Our Dementia Friendly Walking project aims to support people with dementia and their carers enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits of walking in the outdoors.
We have received £15,000 funding from the Life Changes Trust, in partnership with the William Grant Foundation, to work with the local community in Stirling to create Scotland’s first dementia friendly park.
We need your help to generate more funds to help us make all the proposed changes to make the park safe, friendly and accessible to people living with dementia in Stirling.
Donation Level
We’ve listed some suggested donations but if the exact amount you wish to donate is not listed on this page then please visit the Donate to a park page, choose Park Fund and then type a message starting with "Dementia Friendly Kings Park" in the Why did you want to support this park/city fund? field. You can also Gift Aid donations through the Donate to a park form.
TEXT donation
You can now donate to the Dementia Friendly Kings Park project by TEXT. Just text the project code (PATH61) plus an amount to 70070 – for example: 'PATH61 £5' to donate £5.
You can donate £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10. If you wish to Gift Aid your donation please REPLY to the Gift Aid text.
FAQs
Updates
MyParkScotland provides a safe and easy way to make a donation to support this great project.
To make a donation, click on ‘Support Now’ and select your choice of Gift Level. If you are a UK tax payer, selecting a Level which includes Gift Aid means that we can top up your donation at no extra cost to you. Adding Gift Aid typically means that your online donation of, for example, £10 becomes a park investment of £11.53 (after paying platform and management fees). You need to provide your address to enable us to claim Gift Aid.
Gift Aid is a Government scheme which allows charities to increase the value of donations made to them. Gift Aid makes a huge difference to small charities and local organisations, but if they aren’t registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and HMRC, they can’t claim Gift Aid (and many that could claim Gift Aid don’t because they find the process too complicated). At MyParkScotland, we take care of the claim process on eligible donations, so that the Friends and community groups can concentrate on the great work they do in our parks.
We use PayPal to manage online donations and they charge a small platform fee for handling donations. We work hard to keep our fees as low as possible to make sure that as much of each donation as possible is invested in our parks. For donations without Gift Aid, at least 92% of your donation is invested in parks. MyParkScotland is a not-for-profit registered Scottish charity (No. SC045424) and any fees taken go towards covering essential operating costs.
You can find out more information about Gift Aid and MyParkScotland fees in the main Small Print section.
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