ANNEKA RICE ON HER WIRRAL CHALLENGE
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INTERVIEW
ANNEKA RICE ON HER WIRRAL CHALLENGE
Everyone will remember Anneka Rice from the 80 ' s with her Challenge Anneka - well she ' s back and hit our screens with a dementia challenge for AGE UK Wirral . Wirral Life caught up with her to find out about her visit to the Wirral and how the Challenge went .
Why did you choose to do a Dementia Challenge here in Wirral ? I was desperate to do a dementia challenge . Little did I know when we did the original programmes 30 years ago that dementia was going to play such a large part in my life . I wouldn ’ t have known anything about it all those decades ago . But both my parents were to go on to develop Alzheimer ’ s and looking after them was truly scary and isolating for me . Had I only known that there were organisations like Age UK Wirral out there …. So I wanted to do this Challenge desperately , to shine a spotlight on the truly amazing work that carers and people like you and all your volunteers are doing . I was honestly blown away by the love that shines through their work .
Have you visited the Wirral before ? I ’ m sure I must have landed a helicopter in the Wirral on one of our Treasure Hunts . But I loved getting to know the area .
Returning to our screens some 30 years later how have things changed ? Filming during a recession and in Winter presented huge challenges for us ! But having said that the goodwill and dedication of the volunteers who turned up to help was amazing . 1 in 3 of us will be affected by dementia in our lives and all the builders and volunteers who turned up to help were doing it because they had first-hand experience of the disease . So , it made the filming particularly poignant and there were a lot of tears . I don ’ t think we ’ ve ever done a challenge where all the volunteers were so personally affected .
How did you choose your outfit for the show , and do you still have the famous jumpsuit ? The outfit choosing was complicated ! Originally , we were due to film in the summer so I was going to wear a jumpsuit , just for the hell of it . We had a lot of fun cutting up old outfits from the 90s to use again . But in the end we filmed in the Winter , it was freezing and it rained , so it was difficult to look glamorous ! Most of the time I have several layers on .
We saw you whizzing round the Wirral in the buggy , what was the reaction when people realised it was you ? People were very excited to see the buggy back ! It ’ s such a shorthand for Challenge that people would come out of the woodwork asking if we needed any help , before we had time to ask them .
Did you find it harder this time round to get support from local business ? The recession made it difficult to get extra builders as people , understandably , had to take on a paid job if it suddenly came up during the Challenge . So behind the scenes it was chaos trying to find extra people to help . And obviously Facebook and Google were tools we didn ’ t have 30 years ago ! Otherwise , little has changed . People are still wonderful and I was still overwhelmed at their kindness . Certain components seemed impossible to find , like the resin flooring . In the end we found a wonderful company Resins R Us to help . Great name ! They were based in the East of England but dropped everything to come and help .
You met many of the clients and residents that will be using the Village , how did that make you feel ? I feel very emotional about this Challenge , having had parents who would have loved a Village like this . Seeing clients sitting in the pub having a singsong , watching a film in the cinema , listening to a record in the record shop , made my heart burst . I hope to stay involved with Age UK Wirral and look forward to hearing all the news . When I was told that clients were dancing around to music from the record shop and playing bowls on the green I felt overwhelmed . I was very sad that Ronnie passed away shortly after we finished filming . That was a shock , but I feel very grateful I got to know him .
The Village was a huge undertaking , did you feel at times “ What have we done ?” With this Challenge we all thought “ What have we done ”. It was a project that normally would have taken at least 6 months to complete , and we were madly trying to do it all in 3 days , in the pouring rain in a recession . The wonderful thing about the Challenge format is that the project is more important than the TV side of it . The programme is shown once on TV , but the Village will be used and enjoyed , hopefully , for decades to come .
The Village was a long-time dream for Age UK Wirral , how did you feel being able to make this happen ? When I met Lynne and Jamie and saw how this project was such a dream for them , I was thrilled that it had all come together . I ’ ve been very interested in how the Dutch look after their elderly . They remember the person as they were before their illness and tailor their care and living arrangements according to the person ' s past interests . So , someone who loves music lives in a unit with other people who love music . There might be a piano in the sitting room and regular music sessions . And this Age UK Village project ties in with this ethos . It gives people a chance to reconnect with memories from their past . So , for example , the lady that loved Elvis in her youth and now loves to sit in the record shop , clutching an album and listening to him .
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