Pictures from a life:Christmas, Maureen and me
This Christmas, I’ll be remembering the happiest times in my life, spent with my dear Maureen and the family we built together.
Painfully, I began to lose Maureen when she was diagnosed with dementia in 2006. And in 2020, just weeks after our diamond wedding anniversary, I lost her altogether.
You’ll know that our story is far from unique and that, without effective treatments, one in three people born today will also develop dementia, over their lifetimes. And like me, you’ll want to help.
"This Christmas I would love it if you could join me, by giving a gift to dementia research."
Our efforts will help fund vital new research and studies in 2023. We will support scientists to fully understand dementia, what causes it, and how it can be stopped. And ultimately - we will help to end the heartbreak that so many of us feel, once and for all.
"Please know that whatever you can spare this Christmas will count.
Hope can start with our donations...
And one day, it will end with a cure for dementia."
A Christmas gift from me to you
Maureen was a brilliant watercolourist and I too find great comfort in painting. It feels good to continue something that Maureen found great calm and satisfaction in.
Here you can see a small set of postcards, my Christmas gift to you, and a thank you for anything you can give today.
These include two of Maureen's paintings - the best of the bunch of course.
‘Our home in York’ by Maureen Unwin
'I love this painting of Maureen’s. It has a real passion, I feel. It’s the back of our house in York and I can spend ages looking at the details she’s included. I can see our lives in them.'Download
‘Our home in York’ by Maureen Unwin
'I love this painting of Maureen’s. It has a real passion, I feel. It’s the back of our house in York and I can spend ages looking at the details she’s included. I can see our lives in them.'
‘Maureen at Aviemore’ by St John Unwin
“I painted this from a photograph I took of Maureen in the late nineties. She adored walking. And she’d teach our children the name of every tree, flower and plant that they passed.”
‘Willow trees’ by St John Unwin
'“I painted this after a walk I took, in April 2020, three weeks before my Maureen passed away. It was a lonely, painful time for me, as the pandemic soon put a stop to my visits to see Maureen at the care home, just as it did for so many of us. Maureen and I loved to walk this path to Scarborough Bridge and York Station over the years, with our dogs.'
‘Marrakech’ by St John Unwin
'We met our son-in-law’s parents for the first time on this fabulous holiday. It was three years before Maureen’s diagnosis and she fell in love with Morocco, its food, its people and its fascinating way of life.'
