THE Rotary Club of Tavistock has this week been recognised as a Dementia-Friendly organisation — the first Rotary Club out of 1,850 clubs in Great Britain and Ireland to achieve this status. Tony Parker, chairman of the Tavistock Dementia Action Alliance and the Devon Dementia Care and Support Partnership, said Tavistock Rotary Club was the first organisation in the town to financially support the concept of the development of a dementia-friendly community — and the founder members some 18 months ago were five Rotarians. Mr Parker said: 'We therefore felt a certain loyalty to them to become one of the first to achieve recognition as dementia-friendly themselves. 'We provided training through the dementia-friends champion scheme and a presentation by another Tavistock resident, consultant psychiatrist Dr Stephen Pearson, who is also a member of our Alliance.' The new national symbol is awarded to any organisation who commits to assisting Tavistock become dementia-friendly and staff of the business or social organisation receive appropriate training and briefing to increase their awareness and understanding of dementia. The Rotary Club is now entitled to display the national symbol which demonstrates to a person with dementia or their carer that they will be welcomed and can expect understanding, respect and support. Club president John Morton said: 'We are proud we were the first organisation in Tavistock to support the initiative and even more proud that we are now the first club in Great Britain and Ireland to achieve the recognition. 'We have always been an integral part of community life in Tavistock and while we are very pleased at gaining the status we hope many other organisations in the town will aspire to doing the same.' Anyone who would like further information about the dementia-friendly community scheme or any business or social organisation who wish to register with the Alliance please contact Tony Parker on [email protected]">[email protected]