A RECENT gin tasting event was held to raise funds and awareness for Alzheimer’s Scotland.

Guests were invited to the ticket-only even at the Parklands Centre in Alva last Friday, October 11.

Eilie’s Cellar and Bottle Shop provided six different gins and Gordon from the store also stopped by to introduce the spirits.

Gins on offer on the night included Garden Shed, Redcastle and Maclean’s Cherry Bakewell.

Debbie Cassidy, of Alzheimer Scotland’s Stirling and Clackmannanshire branch, said she was delighted with the evening.

Debbie said: “Not only did the event help contribute to our target of £100,000, it also helped raise awareness.

“This is the most important aspect of these events.”

This event was the latest in a series that are part of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire Alzheimer Scotland branch’s £100k campaign.

The Dementia Resource Centre campaign is hoping to raise £100,000 in order to open a resource centre within Forth Valley.

The campaign crossed the halfway point in August and currently sits at around £72,000.

The aim is to have the centre open by Spring 2020 and Debbie believes that the target will be reached in plenty of time.

The resource centre will have daytime activities, drop-in support and daycare available.

Around 5,500 people in the Forth Valley area currently have dementia.

The branch has three further events before Christmas, with the next event being a ceilidh at Parklands Centre again on November 2.

Tickets for the event cost £10 each and local ceilidh band The Skelpit Lug Ceilidh Band will be performing.

Alzheimer’s is an illness of the brain which causes dementia. Over 90,000 people in Scotland have dementia.

For more information you can contact Alzheimer’s Scotland’s helpline by emailing helpline@alzscot.org or by calling 0808 808 3000.