Members of a new therapeutic Budleigh group have contributed to an art project that will form part of an immersive display at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Active Minds sessions are held at Seachange (formerly The Hub) three days a week and aim to provide cognitive stimulation for those with memory loss.

During a recent workshop, members spent a fun afternoon creating moths for a project being led by the Devon-based Art and Energy Collective in partnership with Plymouth Energy Community.

The two organisations are planning to send 20,000 individually crafted insects to the COP26 conference where they will be displayed at Glasgow Botanic Gardens later this month.

The COP26 summit will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

As well as an opportunity to get creative with plastic milk bottles and UV pens, the Active Minds session also stimulated discussion about climate change amongst the group.

Active Minds launched at Seachange in April this year and is going from strength to strength.

So much so that the team is now offering a new morning and afternoon group on a Monday, in addition to Wednesday and Friday.

Active Minds are fun and stimulating sessions designed to help those participating maintain cognitive function as well as helping with nutritional advice and physical therapy.

The groups are designed to stimulate and engage those with mild to moderate dementia and aims to delay cognitive deterioration

Each 2.5 hour session is facilitated by an expert, specialist cognitive stimulation therapy dementia coach and clinically targets a different aspect of the brain including language and numbers, faces, categorising, geographical locations

Active Minds is run by Atlas Respite & Therapy whose co-founder, Jonathan Hanbury spent fifteen years in nursing and elderly care.

The company specialises in dementia therapy, activities and opportunities for social inclusion, while sharing the responsibility of care with families and existing caregivers.