YOUNGSTERS at Knox Academy could play a key role in helping to ensure Haddington becomes dementia friendly.

Discussions have already taken place as to what businesses, organisations and members of the public can do to be more welcoming to people with the condition, as grassroots movement Dementia Friendly East Lothian works to raise awareness of the condition in the community.

More than 1,700 people in East Lothian have been diagnosed with dementia, with that figure expected to more than double within the next 20 years.

Now, 17-year-olds Rhona Taylor and Kate Farmer, S6 pupils at Knox Academy, are aiming to do their bit to ensure Haddington becomes dementia friendly.

Dementia Friendly Haddington was set up last year and aims to follow in the footsteps of similar groups in North Berwick and Tranent.

For Rhona, there was a personal reason for looking to help.

She said: “For me, it was my gran, who passed away last Friday. She had dementia for about six years, so I know how much it affects a family.

“That is what drew me to it because I actually felt that I could help because I had first-hand knowledge of how it affects a whole family.” Rhona said her gran had “a great support network”, with a really close-knit family.

“Imagining her going through what she did without support and without my grandpa caring for her is something that is quite scary,” she said.

“Being able to help out with people who are in that situation is just perfect.” The school became involved in Dementia Friendly Haddington after assemblies last October.

Each S6 pupil at the secondary school is tasked with carrying out at least one hour’s volunteering each week.

Robert Flood, faculty head (social subjects), mentioned the group at the assembly and asked for anyone with an interest to come forward.

“Everybody knows someone who is affected by it,” added Rhona.

“The pupils at Knox don’t want to sit back and watch it happen to their parents and do nothing about it.

“One of the first things Sue Northrop, founder of Dementia Friendly East Lothian, said to us was the work that we do now will not be affecting her future but will be affecting our future.

“We are growing up in Haddington and we might grow old in Haddington.

“The whole project is focusing on now and people with dementia but is also focusing on making sure people are educated about dementia.” Since then, the school has increasingly played an important role in helping to develop Dementia Friendly Haddington.

Rhona said: “We have the ability to get lots of volunteers; lots of help. In a school, you’ve got such a wide range of people – arty people and other people who just want to help out.

“Because you have that wide range of teachers and pupils, there is always going to be a group of people who want to help out no matter what the task is.” Before Christmas, Kate and Rhona organised an event at Haddington Day Centre.

An entire music class was among those who made the trip down to the Lodge Street building to give the day centre users a memorable day.

Rhona added: “We always wanted it to be the first event, rather than the only event. We wanted this to be setting up the foundations between Knox and the day centre.

“We wanted to go on to do bigger events [but] if it had not gone well, we would have struggled to find motivation to do another one. I think we would have struggled to get volunteers as well.” Now, there is an increasing awareness both about dementia and the dementia friendly groups being set up across the county.

“I feel with cancer we have broken a barrier and people are able to talk about it now,” said Rhona.

“It is not a hidden thing anymore and I think we just need to break the barrier with dementia and get people talking about it.

“Medicine is getting better and people are living longer and more people are getting dementia.” It is not just about the two sixth-year pupils, though.

Youngsters at the school could be involved in a number of different strands to help develop Dementia Friendly Haddington.

Art pupils could be utilised to draw up an official logo for the group, with final versions displayed in the John Gray Centre.

Similarly, the school’s hall could be utilised as somewhere to hold a mass training event so people can become ‘dementia friends’.

Among those set to be invited will be local businesses, with a sticker then created to show that businesses are dementia friends.

And the two teenagers stressed the link between Knox Academy and Dementia Friendly Haddington would not fall by the wayside once they leave school this summer.

Rhona added: “I think definitely when we leave school it is something that we will keep volunteering.

“One hundred per cent our aim before we leave school is to make sure there is a firm link between Knox Academy and Dementia Friendly Haddington.

“We do not want us to leave school and the link to just break down.

“We definitely want to make sure, if we do anything before we leave school, that it is not going to end once the sixth years leave.

“That is why it is quite important that we start reaching out to the younger years.”