Alastair Stewart: 'Even with Dementia, an ocean of happy and powerful memories flooded back' ()

<iframe frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://www.gbnews.com/res/scraper/embed/?video_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmm-v2.simplestream.com%2Fiframe%2Fplayer.php%3Fkey%3D3Li3Nt2Qs8Ct3Xq9Fi5Uy0Mb2Bj0Qs%26player%3DGB003%26uvid%3D52639486%26type%3Dvod%26viously_id%3DttHjuh6JCsW" width="100%"></iframe><br/><p>Early this week, I got an email from the head of campaigns at the charity Dementia UK asking me to fill in the latest NHS survey, as part of their Government's plan to make it more user friendly and responsive to our needs. It is accessed via the NHS App which is a fine example of how not to communicate with people, especially those of us with Dementia. You need your email address (letter perfect), your date of birth, and a password. If you get the password wrong or forget it, it is another nightmare to change it. Nowhere on the survey could I say ‘please use less IT’- letters and texts are better which is how my excellent GP communicates with us. </p><p>Now Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State, directly runs the NHS, perhaps he should give the App a make-over. Given it is also used for appointments and prescriptions, it is really important to get it right. Currently it is not fit for purpose. Get it wrong and you get an IT red card and you are blocked from trying to access it again. It is virtually impossible to communicate directly with the App provider, managers or anyone else who can help you to solve the issue.</p><p>The most important event of the week was the funeral service and post-funeral wake for one of our dearest friends. Even with Dementia, an ocean of happy and powerful memories flooded back. I was also reminded sharply of the importance of family, of God-parenting and of friendship generally. </p><h3></h3><br/><img alt="Alastair Stewart in Living With Dementia photo" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1fa142a783f064f34f40bfddc83219dd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="a06b9" loading="lazy" src="https://www.gbnews.com/media-library/alastair-stewart-in-living-with-dementia-photo.webp?id=59743163&width=980"/><h3></h3><br/><p>Zandra Watts was a strikingly beautiful woman from Northern Ireland who we first met when she left Ulster TV and came to work at Southern TV in Southampton, where I began my TV career and met and married my wife Sally. We rapidly became close friends and trusted colleagues of one another. Zandra was a talented Floor Manager, the boss of the studio. As a presenter, if she told me to jump I’d ask “how high?”. Sally was an established and respected Production Assistant, a Queen of timing ,continuity and the Director’s right-hand person.</p><p>Zandra’s first marriage had failed but she arrived with a son and a daughter both of whom we loved and became close friends with as they blossomed into adulthood. Both married and were blessed with children and I was thrilled to be asked to be godfather to Zandra’s son. Zandra herself was Godmother to our eldest son Alexander and he was deeply fond of her and she of him.</p><p>Sally delivered the Eulogy and it was deeply moving, loving, loyal and even funny in appropriate places - that was the nature of Sally’s relationship with Zandra and her children. On a day that could have just been sad it proved to be a celebration of love, friendship and loyalty. Among the guests was a man who had been the best boss many of us had had, Clive Jones. There were many other friends from her time in TV and friends from the golf course and bridge tables which had become important to her in retirement. </p><p>Zandra and her second husband Mike were country folk at heart who loved nothing more than country walks with their dogs, foraging and photographing what they saw. Many of those pictures were on display in the chapel and at the wake. Also in attendance was her dog Murphy as she had decreed in her meticulously planned service, and he was on his best behaviour… bless him… it has been a testing week but love, loyalty and humanity prevailed.</p><h3></h3><br/><img alt="Rachel Reeves" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f6f061caed1d39bc069931f638a1e707" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="5dc5c" loading="lazy" src="https://www.gbnews.com/media-library/rachel-reeves.jpg?id=59743174&width=980"/><h3></h3><br/><p>I am delighted to say Clem and her husband Brian have also flown in from Saudi Arabia where they live and work, to be with us. It is always a joy to see them and they too stood firmly with Sal in what was a testing and emotional duty which she discharged with aplomb. I hope I helped, too. I know the close support of her children did. They all knew most of the people who were there and were really helpful.</p><p>We had the day together when Sal attended a charity lunch in London. We breakfasted and then Clem picked Jimmy up so we could all have a great day together involving milk shakes, ice-cream, and a ‘buying day’ in our local toy-shop: bubble machines and inevitably toy dinosaurs. However low and tested I get with my Dementia, a grandson’s smile is a cure for it all.</p><p>Not even they - alas - can fully offset the gloom of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement. I do hope and believe their generation can and will make a better fist of it. As for the Whatsapp debacle in the States, a clown let alone a child would do better. </p><p>The old Chief executive of ITV, Charles Allen phoned as he frequently does and confirmed he’d been appointed Chairman of the British Horse Racing Authority. He joked he’d be picking our brains as the most horsey family he knows. How we love and admire him. Best to all of you and may you be as blessed as we are with friends and family.</p>