A former Carer to his late wife, Jim Delves joined the local branch of the Alzheimers Soc. Research via the Millennium Commission a project into the effects late, or non diagnosis, of dementia had upon families. He became Chairman of the South Devon branch of the Alzheimer's Society, He met David Light and together, they formed Dementia Carers Pathways. This important publication was widely accepted and an overall total of nearly 40,000 copies have been published and distributed throughout the West Country.

In his spare time Jim also served 4 years as a Shadow Governor to the Devon Partnership NHS Trust and chaired the Older Persons Mental Health Board. In 2016 Jim accepted Chairmanship of the Devon Memory Cafe Consortium, the rapid growth of this organisation now occupies the majority of his time. As hobbies Jim likes to cook and tries to spend time at an indoor bowling club

I have been a Trustee of DMCC since it’s inception and have been involved in dementia matters in the County for nearly twenty years( my husband lived with dementia from 2000-2017). I am also a Trustee and founder member of Tavistock Memory Cafe and a Carer Ambassador for Devon County Council. I have represented carers on various DCC and NHS committees for a number of years and am at present also involved in rewriting the Carers Dementia Pathway for Devon County Council.

Rachel is a trustee and chair of the Cafe Committee for Sid Valley Memory Cafe and has been a trustee of Devon Memory Cafe Consortium since its inception. Having been involved in the development of memory cafes since 2010, Rachel is passionate about the difference memory cafes make in connecting people living with dementia and their carers to peer and social support, invaluable information following a diagnosis, practical advice and the hand of friendship. For the past four years, Rachel has worked full-time for Dementia UK, setting up specialist dementia nurses for families across the South West and South Wales and prior to that she was a small business owner, ran a number of independent support groups for people with dementia, established an award-winning reminiscence project and published a book, Dementia and the Family. As well as being involved with Sid Valley Memory Cafe and Devon Memory Cafe Consortium, Rachel is a trustee of a charity called Five Lives which delivers educational workshops to schools on drugs, alcohol and self-harm and was a founding trustee for Balloons child bereavement charity. Rachel also brings personal experience as a family carer to all that she does.

In 2005 I become involved with one of the first memory cafes in the westcountry and seeing the need I started building the first UK online Memory Cafe Directory. In 2016 this had grown considerably and the model was then taken on by the Alzheimers Society.

Having worked for some time with Jim Delves and the late David Light I then became involved with the Devon Memory Cafe Consortium and to this day have assisted in supporting the great work done by the DMCC and creating the continued presence on social media and the internet.