There are 6,800 good reasons why each and every one of us in Wiltshire should get involved in Dementia Awareness Week, which runs until Saturday. That is the number of people in Wiltshire who are currently living with dementia.

Add to that the army of unpaid carers, dedicated nurses, doctors, care home staff and others, and there will be very few of us whose lives have not or will not be touched by dementia.

My own mother died at Christmas having suffered thankfully relatively mild symptoms for the last year or so of her life and Jamie Graham, my friend from Dauntsey, has early onset dementia, and he and his lovely wife Vicky work unstintingly for the Alzheimer’s cause.

One in three people over the age of 65 will develop dementia, yet on average across the UK, fewer than half of those affected receive an accurate and timely diagnosis.

Some may be afraid to ask their GP for a diagnosis: they may feel scared, confused or even ashamed; but the sooner they know what they are dealing with, the sooner they can get on with their life and feel in control again.

Diagnosis is the key to unlocking access to support services. That’s why the Alzheimer’s Society is using this week to encourage people to open up and talk. And that’s why I’m hosting a special Dementia Awareness event in Malmesbury Town Hall on Friday, June 6 from 3pm-5pm to which I warmly invite you, your families and friends.

I have invited experts from the UK’s leading dementia charities, along with representatives from Wiltshire Council, the Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group and our excellent local hospitals to join me in raising awareness of what we can do for dementia sufferers and carers in Wiltshire.

By the time you read this you will very probably have already voted in the Euro elections, and we will soon know the result.

Whatever it is, it will be subject to a great deal of ‘spin’. “The Tories did better than expected under the circumstances; the Lib Dems were expecting annihilation but managed to hang on to one of their 12 MEPs. This is a disappointing result for UKIP. It may be a good result for UKIP, but it will all be different at the General Election” and so on.

I hope that you will be relieved, if not surprised, to hear that I will give you my pure unspun views on the results next week.