06/08/2026
https://youtu.be/GooFwfWPJv8 So, here is the expanded full message to our new PM Andy Burnham. Here is also the letter/E-mail I just sent to him, not expecting any reply directly from him, but stranger things happen...?
Blessings, John Pops Hyde, Dementia Friends, Alzheimer's Society
Hello Andy,
I was deeply moved by the way you’ve spoken about your dad’s dementia and the impact it has had on your family. It reinforced my belief that one of the most powerful things we can do is help children understand dementia from an early age—not to fear it, but to recognise the person behind the diagnosis with compassion, patience and kindness.
Last year, the BBC filmed us delivering a dementia education assembly at a primary school in Bristol as part of a BBC Points West news feature. The response was extraordinary. Since then, I’ve received bagfuls of heartfelt thank-you cards and letters from children, teachers and parents. Time and again they have told us that the assemblies and classroom visits have changed the way children understood and responded to people living with dementia, and I believe it’s time to expand this education nationally.
The beauty of the initiative is its simplicity. It doesn’t require a major change to the school curriculum. Just one visit each year—one or two hours out of an entire year’s education—is enough to introduce children to dementia in a meaningful, age-appropriate and memorable way. It is a tiny investment that produces a massive payback, of school time that has the potential to change attitudes for a lifetime.
Because these sessions can be delivered by trained volunteers and people with lived experience, the cost is minimal. With the right support, this could become a practical, affordable initiative that every primary school across the United Kingdom could adopt.
I live with frontotemporal dementia myself, and because of the nature of my condition I know my ability to continue this work is limited. My condition means I have a shortening window of opportunity to help establish something that could continue long after I’m no longer able to lead it myself. That is why I’m writing to you now.
My hope is not simply to share a video of me gabbling on about something mundane to all but myself, but to ask whether you would consider watching it and, if you believe in its message, helping to champion the idea of dementia education for children. Your voice could help open doors to conversations that have the potential to benefit generations of children and therefore families for years to come.
Future governments will not remove the learnings.
We teach children about road safety before they cross a road. We teach them how to stay safe before they go online. Yet we don’t prepare them for one of the greatest challenges many of them will face: dementia, the biggest killer in the UK today. We should teach them before they meet it in someone they love, because for millions of children across the UK, you and I both know that day will come. Knowledge replaces fear. Understanding grows compassion. And compassion changes lives.
This isn’t about me, your Dad, or you. It’s about ensuring that every child in the UK grows up understanding dementia before it touches their own family. If we can achieve that, together we will have created a legacy that will continue long after either of us.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and for everything you have done to raise awareness of dementia through your own family’s experience.
If you can spare just a few minutes to watch my video, I hope you’ll see not just an idea, but an opportunity to help shape a more compassionate generation.
I truly believe we have an opportunity to create a lasting legacy—one that will benefit children, families and communities across the United Kingdom for generations to come.
By the way, I believe the UK and its government are now in good hands at last!
With my warmest regards,
John “Pops” Hyde
Living with Frontotemporal Dementia
Here is a copy of the letter/e-mail I have recently sent to Andy Bu...
