WESTBURY man, Duncan Baxter, has won this year’s Dame Barbara Windsor Award for dementia care.
Duncan, a member at Alzheimer’s Support’s Old Silk Works Club, was nominated for the award for the way he has supported other people affected by dementia and for fundraising for the charity.
The accolade is part of ITV’s One Million Minutes campaign that recognises heroes in the community and encourages others to help out by pledging their own time. The award was presented live on TV on Good Morning Britain on Friday 2nd December.
Duncan, a retired police officer, was devastated when he was diagnosed with dementia and says going to the club in Warminster helped him to come to terms with his condition. Seeing others whose dementia was more progressed made him want to support them, and he spends his time at Old Silk Works helping other members have the best time they can.
He also raised more than £6,000 in a sponsored skydive and is continuing to fundraise for the charity.
Speaking about the award, Duncan said, “This award is not just for me, it is for everyone who is here at Old Silk Works. They are not just people who come along, they are all friends of mine now. I wouldn’t change a thing. They have made me feel at home here. That’s what it is, it’s a second home to me.”
The award was presented by EastEnders star, Jake Wood, in a video link during a day of filming Duncan at the club.
He told Duncan, “This is so deserved. I was lucky to be a friend of Dame Barbara and she would have been very proud of you, I’m sure.”
News of the award was revealed on ITV’s Good Morning Britain breakfast show when Duncan and his wife Lynn were congratulated by presenters Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard.
He told them in the live interview, “Trying to help as much as I can is all I want to do. I love working to raise as much money as I can for an unbelievable club that has given me so much. I just want to carry on doing what I have been doing. I am over the moon to be recognised.”
Head of day care at Alzheimer’s Support, Grant Newton said, “This is so deserved. Duncan has done so much for the club.
“Duncan was very fearful about coming into somewhere like this, nervous about coming to Old Silk Works, but he is a joy to have in the club. He was a police office and has continued to serve by making this his new community. We are all so proud of him and all he has achieved.”
