THE call has gone out for knitters to rally round and help make Malvern a dementia-friendly town.

The district council is appealing for people to knit as many blue Forget Me Not Flowers as they can over the next few weeks.

The flower is the symbol of the Alzheimer Society’s Dementia Friends campaign, which aims to transform the way the nation thinks, talks and acts about the condition.

The flowers will then be used to decorate the streets of Malvern town centre during National Dementia Awareness Week, on May 14-20, as a way of raising awareness of Dementia Friends.

There will also be opportunities for members of the public to become a Dementia Friend by attending a free session. Those who take part will gain a better understanding of the condition, know how to act more sympathetically towards people living with dementia and contribute to creating a dementia-friendly community.

The pattern is available to download from malvernhills.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing, along with a video on how to make the flowers.

Once completed, the woollen flowers can be handed in at the council office in Brunel House, Portland Road.

Rachel Vann, the council’s physical activity and well-being officer, was inspired by the white knitted angels that were put up around Malvern during Christmas.

The district council is part of the Malvern Dementia Action Alliance, which is working to recruit local businesses and individuals to the local group and help Malvern to become more dementia friendly.

According to a Dementia UK report, there are 1,486 people living with dementia in the Malvern Hills district, a number that is set to increase dramatically over the next decade.

Cllr David Watkins said: “This is a really creative way of raising awareness about a subject that will affect all of us in some way in the future as the number of people living with dementia continues to grow. I really hope those who love knitting will pick up their needles and help Malvern become more Dementia Friendly through our sea of woollen Forget Me Nots.”