Before my mother's diagnosis with Alzheimer's, I had heard of the disease, but hadn't known anyone who had suffered from it.

With your own children, you love them immediately - and with grandchildren, it's exactly the same.

I wish people would take more care of the countryside.

I'm very good at being out of work.

I've been going to Bamburgh for holidays since I was a child.

I never have liked detective dramas. I try to watch all of them to see what's going on, but I don't like them.

Dementia is often regarded as an embarrassing condition that should be hushed up and not spoken about. But I feel passionately that more needs to be done to raise awareness, which is why I became an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society.