Judi Dench makes dementia awareness plea
Award-winning actress Dame Judi Dench called today for more to be done to help dementia sufferers and their carers throughout the UK.
She called for more public premises – such as airports, shops and hotels – to make provision to help the one million people with dementia across the UK.
The actress made her remarks during a visit to Stirling University, where she opened a unique research and development centre for dementia sufferers.
The Iris Murdoch Building will be used to teach thousands of doctors, nurses and carers about the best ways to care for people with the crippling illness.
Dame Judi, who portrayed Murdoch in the 2001 hit movie Iris, said she hoped the centre would “open many people’s eyes” to what dementia sufferers and their carers had to endure.
“It seems entirely appropriate that one small legacy of Dame Iris’s experience should be this wonderful building, which will influence the design of public buildings so that people with dementia can manage to find their way more easily,” she said.
“I already feel very close to this project and having been shown around, I must admit it’s been a real eye-opener to see how relatively simple measures have been made to make life simpler for people with dementia.”
The 68-year-old actress told staff at the centre she was committed to raising funds for the project, the first of its kind in the UK.
During her visit Dame Judi revealed how Murdoch, who died in 1999, was one of her heroines and how she became a huge fan of her writing after seeing one of her works, A Severed Head, in a West End theatre.
“I am an avid fan of her work and it was very daunting playing her,” she said.
“I knew nothing really of dementia before the film and I’m delighted to have been in Iris and learned a great deal about this condition.
“I’m very, very pleased that if the film has done anything, it’s put this illness into the spotlight for perhaps the first time.”
During her two-hour visit, the actress, who won a Best Actress nomination for her part in Iris, revealed how much she loved “any excuse” to visit Scotland.
She said: “I love it here. If I could live anywhere, I would choose Scotland, but it’s just not practical for me at the moment.”
Professor Mary Marshall, director of the new centre, said she hoped the high profile actress’s visit would highlight the work undertaken in the building.
“We quite simply could not have got a better person here today. Not only did Dame Judi portray Iris, she is fully committed to doing all she can to help dementia sufferers in this country.”
Commenting on the new £2.3 million building, she said: “People with dementia, their carers and staff involved in dementia care will all benefit from this.”
Ms Marshall said many of the dementia-friendly items installed at the centre were both cheap and widely available and urged businesses to incorporate many of the ideas on their premises.
She said: “Very simple things, like painting doors in bright colours, having natural light and soundproofing rooms really make life so much easier for sufferers.”
Iris Murdoch’s husband, John Bayley, whose real-life story was adapted for the film Iris, was due to attend today’s opening but had to pull out through ill-health.
In a statement read out at the launch, he said: “I know that Iris would be delighted by this project and delighted that Judi Dench should open this centre.
“She passionately believed in doing good in practical ways and would very much welcome the work taking place at this centre.”
