A POPULAR community centre has opened a dementia-friendly café as part of a project to make it more accessible.

A ribbon was cut on Saturday morning (April 13) to celebrate the £65,000 refurbishment of the new-look Palmer Centre in Cormeilles Square, Chepstow.

It was a double celebration with one of its long-standing members, Josefa Carrodeguas, marking her 95th birthday.

The ribbon was cut by the chairman of the Chepstow Senior Citizens’ Welfare Trust, Peter Farley, and Monmouthshire Council’s Cabinet member for social services, Cllr Penny Jones (Con, Raglan) and there was entertainment from the Chepstow University of the Third Age choir.

Mr Farley said the building was on the site of Chepstow’s public hall which was taken over by the trust in 1976.

In the early 1990s it was renamed the Palmer Centre in honour of Cllr Annie Palmer, a Monmouth district councillor who ran it with her husband Percy, a former Severn ferry skipper.

He said: “It has a fantastic legacy and over time it has developed into what we now have, the café and the hall.

“We welcome you at this, the renewal and transformative stage of the trust and the centre.”

The transformation had its roots in a suggestion on improving accessibility by Trevor Palmer – who is no relation to the other Palmers – and who was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to people with disabilities.

Mr Farley said: “That grew into a report on accessibility which Trevor did for us and that was the basis for part of the works – the improvements to the foyer, the doors to the main building and the toilets.”

The centre’s operations manager, Margaret Gore, said: “Popping into town for a coffee and a chat is something that many of us take for granted, but for someone suffering with dementia this can be a deeply frustrating and difficult experience.

Café layouts and colour schemes can be confusing to a person with dementia – poor lighting can cause illusions and noise deemed acceptable to café staff and customers may be distressing and disorientating.

“We are so excited to have redeveloped the café into a dementia-friendly café, where people can feel safe and secure, enjoy refreshments, socialise and take part in activities.

“We hope to be even more appealing to the general public too, with plenty of space for families to enjoy and lovely home-cooked style food made by our team of staff and volunteers.”

Among the measures to make the cafe more suitable for people with dementia are sound baffling to reduce echoing in the room, solid colour schemes to reduce the risk of visual confusion, variable and natural lighting modules to recreate daylight, and clear signposting.”

Funding came from the council, the Welsh Government and Chepstow and Caldicot Lions who provided kitchen equipment.

Cllr Jones said: “You have done really well with this project – when it gets back to the Minister, I’m sure he will be favourable to other, similar projects.

“It highlights the aim of Monmouthshire as laid down in the Well-being of Future Generations Act to create a society where people’s physical and mental well-being is maximised and a society that enables people to fulfil their potential no matter what their circumstances.”

Mrs Carrodeguas – who is known as Mama at the centre said she enjoyed sharing her birthday with her many friends at the centre.

She added: “I’ve been coming here since Mr and Mrs Palmer were here – I love this place and I love the people, they are all my friends.”