A DANCE café with a difference is looking for new members in York.

People with dementia and their carers are invited to the Dance Café held at the city’s Tramways Club in Mill Street which has so far been a great success as many people with dementia remember how to dance and take a lot from the sessions.

Its aim is to help people socialise, gently exercise and have fun.

Penny Gregg, the Alzheimer’s Society Dementia support worker, who runs the café said: “People living with dementia may find it difficult to communicate and forget what they did a couple of hours ago, but many people can remember how to dance and when the music starts they are up and ready to take a turn around the dance floor. It is a great form of exercise too which helps to keep people active.

“We would very much like more people to come and join the class as numbers have dwindled recently. Anyone who enjoys a dance can come along and take part – we have all sorts of music from ballroom to rock and roll.”

There is also an optional lunch, provided by the Tramways Club if people book in advance, before the dancing starts. Everyone is welcome to come along and give the sessions a try."

The next Dance Café will be on Tuesday, January 13. It runs on the second Tuesday of every month from 1.15 to 3pm.

There are around 2,500 people with dementia living in York and almost 11,000 in North Yorkshire As well as the Dance café, Alzheimer’s Society in York and Selby run a number of services including Dementia Cafés, Singing for the Brain, Bocchia and New Age Curling, alongside offering one to one support services, courses for carers and telephone information.

For more information contact Alzheimer’s Society York Office on 01904 567701 or email yorkservices@alzheimers.org.uk