In a few hours, I’ll be setting off for the Deaf Institute, the Manchester music venue that is the setting for the first of the 7 Wonders in 7 Days monthly music fundraisers raising much needed funds for Alzheimer’s Research Trust.

I’m pretty excited about this event, if only because I’m also playing in a line up that includes excellent Manchester bands Airship, Run Toto Run, Mutineers and Slow Readers Club.

I got a chance to meet with the fundraising team from Alzheimer’s Research Trust last week when they were in Manchester for the Full of Life Festival at the Museum of Science and Industry.

The museum had organised an evening event:  the Alzheimer’s Research Trust Talk as part of Manchester City Council’s ‘Valuing Older People in Manchester’ programme.

During the talk on 5 October I learnt a great deal about Alzheimer’s Research Trust’s efforts in funding world-class research to find a cure for Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

Some key facts I came away with:

• About half of the people in the UK know someone who has dementia.
• The number is predicted to double in the next 20 years.
• Alzheimer’s is a disease not a part of normal aging.
• Age is the biggest factor: in 1962 the Queen sent 200 telegrams to people celebrating their 100 year old birthday.   In 2005 she sent out 4600.
• Babies born now are more likely to reach the age of 100.
• This last fact means that dementia, a progressive deterioration of brain function, is likely to affect more people in the UK in coming years.

Speakers at the event included Dr Marie Janson, Director of Development at the Alzheimer’s Research Trust and Dr Stuart Pickering-Brown whose research into the genes that cause dementia at Manchester University is part of work at the university funded by Alzheimer’s Research Trust.

Also speaking was a rather special Alzheimer’s Research Trust supporter, Peter Ashley, who has been living with Dementia since 2000.

Here’s a short video interview I made with Peter at the event.

He shares how he copes with the disease and his work into de-stigmatising it.

As I reveal in the video, Peter is a bit of a YouTube star for his videos on living with dementia.  Here’s another video of his, this one created for the Lewy Body Society.

As it happens, June Brown MBE, the popular actress better known as Dot Cotton in the popular BBC soap Eastenders also has Dementia with Lewy Bodies and shares her experiences here.

What do you think?  Isn’t Peter Ashley just like Santa?  And so brave, stoic and full of warmth.

Share your thoughts in the comments.

And shout out if you’re at the gig later today!