Joe Woods

After spending several years in the service industry, Joe developed an interest in the economics of working relationships. He believes that care work is the most important, yet undervalued, form of work in our society, which is reflected in his time spent volunteering with people affected by conditions like MS and dementia. In 2017, he abseiled down Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower to raise money for the Solent MS Therapy Centre. His focus on the social division of labour is also reflected in Joe's academic pursuits, and he is currently writing about the new working relationships of the digital platform economy. 

Melissa is a qualified primary trained teacher who has a long held interest in brain function. Initially this was from the perspective of the child’s developing brain, but in the last decade since the loss of her mother to vascular dementia she has focused on studying the decline in cognitive ability experienced by people with dementia.  Of particular interest to her is the manner in which various forms of dementia impact in quite different ways upon brain function, along with the consequent limitations people experience in their daily lives. 

A late career break in order to do a degree in ceramics has led to an interest in using the arts in dementia activities.

In recent years Melissa has had experience in the home care sector; has worked for the NHS in the Oxfordshire Supported Hospital Discharge Team (now known as HART) and also for the Alzheimer’s Society as an Advisor in North Oxfordshire. In this role it became clear that services which are able to offer stimulating activities for people with dementia but which also do not require the presence of a carer are very limited if non existent. For this reason she has chosen to join Dementia Active as it is able to offer just such a service and in particular is developing the use of Cognitive Stimulation Techniques (CST) for those with mild to moderate dementia.

Email:  melissa@dementiactive.co.uk 

Nicola is a safeguarding and advocacy expert with a wealth of experience over the last 20 years. She has worked within organisations and as a safeguarding consultant such as Head of Quality and Safeguarding for VoiceAbility (a national advocacy charity), Safeguarding Mind for National Mind, Training Associate for Research in Practice. 

She works with a local hospice as their Strategic Safeguarding Lead in addition to her self-employed work (safeguarding auditing and training charities around adult safeguarding and family advocacy for people that have loved ones in care or nursing homes). She holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Adult Safeguarding from Keele University. 

Personally, she is mum to 3 neurodiverse children and is a carer for her mum who has Alzheimer’s. 

Email: nicola@dementiactive.co.uk

Jo has been a foster carer for young people with special needs, a helper with local Beavers and Cubs groups and has for some years been a carer for her mother who has dementia.

Jo joined a Dementia Active group as a volunteer in order to give her mother the one to one support she needed to be able to continue attending. 

After a 32 year career with Tesco in Banbury, Jo took the big step in 2023 to change her career in order to manage the day to day running of the 'Dementia Active' building.

She also transports members and assists them in groups.

Jo has also stepped up as the Lead Safeguarding Trustee for the charity.

Beth undertook some community work in the 6th form at her boarding school and was shown ‘the babies’ at a nursing home. This was her introduction to people with dementia in 1967 and she never forgot it. She trained as a Social Worker in 1978, and took her first mental health post in 1980 working with what was then known as ‘Psychogeriatrics’ and it has been her privilege to see people with dementia come ‘out of the closet ‘as it were, since that time.

Beth has worked in 7 social service departments, 5 community mental health teams and 2 housing associations as a social worker and a trainer nearly always specialising in older people’s mental health. In 1999 she became training officer to the Dementia Unit at Oxford Brookes University a great job, it was one of a national strategy to create Dementia Services Development Centres across the UK & Ireland, which sadly failed due to the lack of financial support, but Beth became a specialist dementia trainer, creating bespoke programmes for housing staff, nurses, day centres, nursing homes, residential care, domiciliary staff and family carers.

In 2009 Beth decided she was getting too far removed from practice, so returned to working in the Community Mental Health Team in Towcester. Since that time, she has worked part-time which has kept her in touch with medical & social resources. Beth officially retired from Social Work last year but still provides training, currently for Social Workers in Lancashire SSD and Hampton Healthcare in Northamptonshire. 

Chris is an experienced charity and business leader, having held senior leadership positions in healthcare and education charities, as well as being a member of the founding team at a music industry startup.

In the charity sector, Chris has worked as a Director of Marketing and Communications, and commercially he served as Chief Operating Officer for one of the world’s largest ambient music record labels. Currently, he is CEO of an Oxford-based education charity.

Chris is a Chartered Institute of Public Relations Accredited PR practitioner, a member of the Institute of Leadership, and a mentor at Birmingham City University.

Len has lived in Banbury for over 20 years and was invited to become a trustee in January 2025. After moving from Manchester with his wife and daughter. He retired eight years ago, following ten years in the RAF and a subsequent career in IT. 

Born in Plymouth, he grew up in an era when children were relatively safe to roam independently, so Dartmoor became his playground, and he still returns there with his dogs for short breaks. Shortly after he retired, Len’s wife, Tina, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. 

Len spent six years as her primary caregiver until she moved into a care home in Banbury where he continued to be actively involved in her care until she passed away in 2023. Today, Len keeps himself busy with his home flight simulator, his interest in the Battle of Britain, his dogs, and a budding interest in photography. 

When asked why he wanted to be a trustee with Dementia Active, Len explains that he is simply giving back for all the love and support he and Tina received on her dementia journey. He also genuinely enjoys the company of people living with dementia, as they can be such fun.  

Len writes a blog which can be viewed here.

Kayleigh has a keen eye for detail, and a caring nature, which is why in September 2022 she started her journey to become an Occupational therapist and is currently studying a BSc Honours degree in Occupational Therapy. Kayleigh believes she has developed multiple transferable skills in her previous career in hospitality that can applied to her new position.

After completing her second-year placement, Kayleigh came to work as a group leader at Dementia Active whilst finishing her studies at university.

Kayleigh says, “I enjoy planning and running groups for individuals with mild to moderate dementia, ensuring that a graded approach is taken so that the sessions meet the members needs.”

Through the use of the Pool Activity Level (PAL) assessment, Kayleigh is able to understand an individual’s level of cognition and the best ways in which to communicate and support them.

By ensuring excellent communication between team members and family, Kayleigh has made sure all concerns of a member are reported.