THE achievements of those who help elderly people improve their quality of life have been recognised.

Taunton Deane MP Jeremy Browne presented certificates at the Reminiscence Learning awards ceremony in the Albemarle Centre.

Mr Browne said: “More people are suffering from dementia as Britain’s population grows older. This is a particular issue in Somerset because our population is older than the national average.

“It’s often very distressing for relatives to care for a dementia sufferer. Everyone wants to find better ways to help improve the quality of life of people with dementia.

“That’s why I’m such a supporter of the idea of reminiscence learning.

“Many dementia sufferers struggle to remember day-to-day events and can easily become confused or lonely.

“But they can often recall with remarkable clarity events that happened in their youth and stimulating those memories can make dementia sufferers happier and bring them out of their shell.”