IT was great to read in the Times that Lochgelly man Dick Campbell is not far from his £50,000 target for a special sensory garden at the new Care Village being built in Lumphinnans.

The building work at the site behind the ambulance station has been moving forward pretty swiftly and I believe that this project is set to open in the late summer.

Dick has spent the past two years raising money for the sensory garden which will help dementia sufferers.

Being someone who has had a relative who has had the condition it is great to see something being done to help sufferers.

It is a horrible thing to have. The word ‘dementia’ describes a set of symptoms that may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language. These changes are often small to start with, but for someone with dementia they have become severe enough to affect daily life. A person with dementia may also experience changes in their mood or behaviour.

Dementia is caused when the brain is damaged by diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease or a series of strokes. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, but not the only one. The specific symptoms that someone with dementia experiences will depend on the parts of the brain that are damaged and the disease that is causing the dementia.

But as Dick found out through his mother's experiences a special sensory garden can make a massive difference to their every day existence.

To get what is needed needs a lot of money and it looks like he is going to raise almost £50,000, which should give the new Care Village as good a facility of its type as there is in Scotland.

Dick deserves a lot of praise for his efforts which will give the Lumphinnans Care Village this special garden and over the coming years a lot of families will be grateful for all the work he has put into the project and the support he has received from friends.

CARE VILLAGER,

Lochgelly.