From singing cafes, friendship lunches and plenty of tea: What Malaysia can learn from a UK town on creating a dementia-friendly community (VIDEO) (2025)

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 — Do you know of anyone with a family member who is living with dementia? What would a community where they could feel supported and welcome look like?

Here’s what Malay Mail learnt from St Ives — a town in Cambridgeshire, UK — which in 2016 started its journey to be a dementia-friendly community.

It might be timely for Malaysia to explore dementia-friendly communities, as Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) estimated 123,000 people were living with dementia here in 2015, with the number projected to grow to 261,000 by 2030 and 590,000 by 2050.

What is a dementia-friendly community?

UK charity Alzheimer’s Society describes this to be a city, town or village where people with dementia are understood, respected, supported, able to live well and continue to be an active part of their community.

St Ives, which has about 17,000 residents, is one of the 500 communities (as of 2022) in the UK who have committed to be dementia-friendly.

While the number of persons with dementia in St Ives is not available, 1,388 persons aged 65 and above were recorded as having a dementia diagnosis in the Huntingdonshire district — where St Ives is located — as of April 2024.

The latest available research estimates that over 944,000 people in the UK had dementia in 2021, with projections rising to over 1.1 million by 2030 and 1.6 million by 2050.

St Ives has many different dementia-friendly activities that run regularly every month or even every week on a fixed schedule and at fixed venues: a dementia cafe, a singing cafe, a choir, “Love To Move” chair-based exercises with music, games sessions, reminiscing and sharing memories with each other.

All these activities come under the umbrella of the voluntary community organisation St Ives Dementia Friendly Community Group (St Ives DFCG), which the town’s then mayor Ian Jackson started in 2016 after becoming aware of what he described as a “dementia crisis” in the UK.

St Ives DFCG chairman Roger Kuch said Jackson thought it would be good to bring together three existing activities at the time — the Dementia Friends Awareness Sessions, Friendship Lunches and Memory Lane Singing Café — under the group and coordinate them to prevent scheduling conflicts.

Kuch told Malay Mail that an estimated 120 to 130 people, including some from nearby villages and towns, participate in St Ives DFCG’s activities. The group said it has around 25 to 30 volunteers for all the activities.

Music, memories, feeling good with songs

People with dementia may have difficulty finding the right words and engaging in conversation, and may also lose interest in socialising.

In St Ives, music and singing plays a big part in many of the dementia-friendly activities in town, and these are the most popular activities in terms of numbers of participants.

St Ives DFCG secretary Agi Peach highlighted the “magic” of singing, where those who have difficulty finding the right words for conversations can still sing the words to a song.

She said song lyrics are one of the last things to go for those with memory loss, and that songs — such as those from the era when someone was young — are important as they help bring back memories.

“So, singing is very important, because sometimes when you lose verbal skills and conversation is difficult and all that, then you just sort of sit and then you sink into your world.

“And then comes a song, and suddenly — you can sing, and you are being active, and you’re using your brain — you’re engaging with people and it’s a social thing,” she told Malay Mail when speaking about the power of singing and music therapy.

Even during the “Love To Move” seated exercise sessions, she said songs help participants stay engaged, compared to just receiving instructions on the exercise moves.

Memory Lane Singing Cafe

Created by volunteers in 2013, this is the earliest dementia-friendly activity the town has ever done on its own.

The St Ives DFCG describes this as a “monthly gathering in an informal cafe setting for a fun sing-along to feel-good songs”, with about 50 participants including volunteers.

Peach said participants sit in a big circle, with small tables in front of them — each shared by two persons — where they can have biscuits, tea or coffee.

The same pop songs are played every month for two hours with an interval in the middle, and participants either sing along to the lyrics using booklets or from memory.

“And then a lot of people go up and dance. So it’s dancing, singing. It’s really jolly. It’s really lovely. It’s a very fun thing to do,” she said.

Riverport Singers — The St Ives Dementia Friendly Community Choir

The Riverport Singers — which started in February 2020 and braved through the Covid-19 pandemic with the help of video-conferencing platform Zoom — held its first concert in 2022.

The Riverport Singers, which aims to perform two concerts every year, has successfully helped raise funds with its concerts for various causes, such as for refugees within its community; musical instruments for a local primary school; the St Ives DFCG; charities Dementia UK as well as Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Peach, who is also the choir’s musical director, said more than a third of the 60 registered members have dementia, while the rest are their carers, volunteers, widows, those who used to come with their partners in the past, and those who now stay at care homes.

Over 50 participants practise singing together every Thursday morning with lyrics projected on a big screen, which Peach said helps them focus and engage with others as they follow the words.

When they perform at concerts, the choir members are given printed lyrics as they face the audience, but many of them would know the words by heart then, she said.

Beyond reliving memories with songs, the choir also does many things at the same time; learning new things, socialising — such as having coffee together after choir practice — and forming a community that meets regularly.

Even during school holidays when the choir takes a break, members still meet informally at local businesses for coffee and singing sessions.

Have a cup of tea or coffee, some fun and laughter

Peach said the Riverport Singers’ weekly sessions are “very informal and very chatty” with “a lot of banter and a lot of laughing”.

She also challenges the participants with new songs, teaching them how to sing in two-part harmonies and preparing them for concert performances.

Over at the town’s local museum The Norris Museum, reminiscing sessions — where people with dementia can tap into their long-term memories and share stories of their life — also feature tea, coffee, biscuits or cake.

The Norris Museum also holds reminiscing sessions at a local community centre in town for an hour every Monday — except when Memory Lane Singing Cafe is held — which are then combined with the “Love To Move” exercise sessions in the next hour. Again, there’s tea and coffee.

Dementia Cafe

A dementia cafe — sometimes also known as a memory cafe — is where you can just drop in and seek support, information and advice about dementia in a relaxed, safe and friendly environment.

Every month, about 30 people — including those with dementia, carers and volunteers — gather in St Ives for the Dementia Cafe, where there is typically a speaker and songs.

For example, during Malay Mail’s visit, a local council officer gave a talk about independent, small local businesses providing care services.

While participants enjoyed tea and coffee over songs, those who wanted to learn more could speak to the local council officer and care service providers in a separate room.

There were also leaflets and booklets available, such as on dementia-friendly activities in town, day care centres and information for carers.

UK charity Age UK Norfolk’s guide on starting a dementia cafe says that volunteers should not “be tempted to give advice”, but should instead direct people to trained experts.

For more tips on setting up a Dementia Cafe or a Memory Cafe, check out the Rotarians Easing Problems of Dementia’s (REPoD) guide.

In Malaysia, there have been reports in recent years of dementia cafes and memory cafes being set up — including pop-up versions — in Penang and in Perak’s capital city Ipoh.

Friendships formed and carers supporting each other

With so many dementia-friendly activities happening in town on different days every week, participants who meet regularly get to know each other and form friendships, Peach said.

Peach said carers have compiled a folder with useful information and personal advice based on their experience on how to deal with various situations, with the community constantly updating it with new tips.

At the Dementia Cafe, there are several copies of the carers’ folder that anyone can look at and borrow before returning it at the next session.

Every month, there is a Carers Group meeting where carers of those living with dementia could share experiences and tips on questions involving care, for example, incontinence pads and where to go for respite.

There is also the monthly Friendship Lunches, where around 20 people enjoy friendly chat and support over a meal at a local pub.

How can a community start dementia-friendly activities?

Asked for tips on what anyone could start with to make their community dementia-friendly, Peach said: “To start up, you could have just one weekly cafe session that varies activities, then see what is popular and how many volunteers you get and what grant is available, and then start up weekly sessions.”

“The easiest thing to organise would be a cafe. This can be a drop in centre, where people can come and chat and find information and support,” she said.

She added that this can be further developed by having talks, entertainers, seated exercise sessions, and to include singing — either by having someone lead the singing or playing popular music over a sound system — together with printed or projected lyrics for attendees.

She also suggested games sessions: “This is also relatively easy to organise, you just need a small grant to get equipment: puzzles, card games, target games, balls, etc.”

The St Ives DFCG’s monthly game sessions — which volunteers help run with equipment bought with a grant — feature tabletop games (such as puzzles, dominoes, cards, snakes and ladders, bingo) with refreshments in the first hour.

In the second hour, the group does target games with bean bags, buckets, hoops, ball and balloon games, boccia and parachute games, Peach said.

Peach said the setting up of St Ives DFCG as a structured organisation with its own constitution and policies meant it could apply as a group for financial grants for the many dementia-friendly activities under its umbrella, and it could also manage such funds.

While the Alzheimer’s Society had in the initial years provided funding such as for the Dementia Cafe’s operating costs, the St Ives DFCG has had to find its own funds to cover costs and keep it going — including through fundraising exercises.

The St Ives DFCG does get a slight discount with community rates when renting three venues in town for various dementia-friendly activities, and sustains the activities through small fees from participants, donations and grants.

*This article is based on Ida Lim’s project during the Khazanah-Wolfson Press Fellowship 2024 at the University of Cambridge.