Sadie and Andy are Reading Friends at Owen Mor Care Centre in Derry/Londonderry.

Taking part in the group

There is a Reading Friends group session at Owen Mor every Monday afternoon.

Owen Mor specialises in the care of people living with dementia.

Sadie is a resident and Andy is her husband. They have been part of the group from the beginning. Before moving into residential care, Andy was Sadie’s carer at home. Due to the progression of illness, Sadie has stopped talking.

Andy says, 'I get a lot out of it. I do. I enjoy hearing different people’s views and different things they’re saying and picking up things and learning too. That would have been the same for Sadie too, at the start.'

Andy likes to hear about other people’s lives and experiences in the group, 'It’s not just all me all the time, everyone else is involved. I like the way it’s put over. That can be very interesting. And finishing off with a poem, I enjoy that.'

Our place in history

We have been reading some local history in the group. Craigavon Bridge is a double-decker road bridge across the River Foyle in Derry/Londonderry. Shortly after it opened in 1933, there was a fire in the city, and that was the day Sadie was born.