A PROJECT helping people in Okehampton with dementia is to receive its share of more than £2-million of lottery funding.

The Upstream Healthy Futures project runs groups whose participants engage in reminiscence, song, dance, art and drama, and runs carer support groups that provide information, support, network and activities.

The Upstream programme helps people in Okehampton, Tiverton, Cullompton, Crediton and East Devon.

Thanks to the money, people who have recently been diagnosed with dementia will be introduced to touch-screen technology by sixth form students.

Activities might entail accessing subtitled songs on YouTube for singing groups, or searching the internet for pictures and information from their past.

Others might use the technology to develop Memory Books to help health professionals better understand a person's identity, if they are admitted to hospital or a care home.

The project aims for the students to overcome the stigma attached to dementia and sufferers to benefit from engaging with the students and technology.

Okehampton College students have already been busy in efforts to create a dementia-friendly community, undertaking assemblies, surveys, workshops and visits, and participating in local memory cafés.

The South West grants are part of a £40-million investment from the Big Lottery Fund's £200-million Well-being programme, which began in 2007. It is aimed at improving the health of people across England, including interventions that will improve the well-being of some of the country's most marginalised groups.

Helen Bullough, Big Lottery Fund spokesperson, said: 'Research shows that community-based projects like this can have a significant impact on people's health and well-being, reducing depression, increasing self-esteem and improving levels of healthy eating and physical activity.

'In addition, new projects targeting health issues affecting the region specifically, such as diabetes, are set to have an enormous positive impact on thousands of people.'