THE scenic Bentham Line which runs through Craven is helping to make North Yorkshire a dementia-friendly place.

North Yorkshire County Council and the Leeds-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership are piloting work at Bentham and other railway stations, which has been audited by people with experience of living with dementia who made suggestions for making it a more friendly experience.

Walks and area guides are being developed to provide a range of railway-based dementia-friendly activities along the line.

The partnership is also developing two dementia-friendly information kits that will be available to the rail industry and also offered elsewhere.

One kit will focus on staff and volunteer understanding and raising awareness of dementia, and about how to respond to people living with dementia.

The other kit centres on creating dementia-friendly railway environments and supporting services.

The kits will eventually be shared with communities along the Bentham Line, other community rail partnerships and train operators, so they can develop their own approaches to being dementia-friendly.

Amongst the Craven towns and villages on the Bentham Line are Skipton, Gargrave, Hellifield, Long Preston, Giggleswick and Clapham.

County councillor Michael Harrison, Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Health Integration, said: “North Yorkshire is home to 10,000 people living with dementia and we have just launched our dementia strategy, called ‘Bring Me Sunshine’. It’s an important document because it sets out the improvements we want to make over the next five years for people affected by dementia.

“An important part of this is to spread the message it is possible to live well with dementia, and people living with dementia have a valuable role to play in their communities. Initiatives such as the work by the Leeds-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership play such a vital part in making that aspiration a reality.”

County councillor Don Mackenzie, Executive Member for Highways, said: “We know that we are playing a very important role in helping to develop services and facilities that will help people living with dementia and their carers to enjoy getting out and about by rail again and find it a safe and secure experience.”