Mayor attends launch of Switchboard’s Rainbow Café

Switchboard opens new community project – the Rainbow Café, to support LGBTQ people who live with memory loss or dementia.

With an £11,725 grant awarded by the Rainbow Fund, the Rainbow Café is a new initiative for LGBTQ people living with dementia or memory loss and their friends, families and carers. This new project also hopes to show that Switchboard is more than just a helpline as the charity continues to connect and support LGBTQ communities.

Launching the project last month to a packed crowd Switchboard’s CEO Daniel Cheesman, said: “We have had such positive feedback that we are providing this service in the City. We know that there is a big need to provide an LGBTQ specific space for those experiencing dementia. Gay or straight, dementia doesn’t discriminate and whilst we can’t do much about the condition itself we can play our part to ensure that environments are supportive and fully inclusive.”

The Rainbow Café opened by the Mayor Councillor Mo Marsh was followed by a showing of the awarding winning play The Purple List: A Gay Dementia Venture, telling the story of a same-sex couple, whose life is interrupted with a diagnosis of dementia. The performance was followed by a Q&A session with a panel made up of City wide services supporting dementia. It was acknowledged that there is still plenty of work to do in terms of supporting LGBTQ people living with the condition and Switchboard were praised for their efforts in responding to the need.

The Rainbow Café will run monthly with the next meeting taking place 11am-1pm on Thursday, March 21 at Brooke Mead, Albion Street.

To find about more about the Rainbow Café, email: rainbow.cafe@switchboard.org.uk or call the Switchboard office on 01273 234009 for more information.