A volunteer who made a quilt stitched together from memories of Jewish dementia sufferers and their families has been commended for her work.

Sheree Charalampous, a volunteer at Jewish Care’s Sam Beckman Special Day Care Centre in Hendon, received the Linda Rose Creativity in Dementia Award at Jewish Care’s annual celebration of success award last Thursday.

Mrs Charalampous, who lives in Golders Green and has volunteered at the Sam Beckman Centre for eight years, worked with users of the day care centre for Jewish people with dementia, their families and staff to create the quilt.

The quilt, made of 42 individual squares that have been hand drawn, appliquéd or embroidered, was made by a range of contributors – the oldest of whom was 96 and the youngest six.

Mrs Charalampous said: “Textiles is my passion and my background. I took this into the day centre and together we created a truly amazing piece of work which is a documentation of social history.

“One of my favourite squares on the quilt was created by our oldest contributor Miriam who has fond memories of her father telling her she had ‘golden hands’ when at the age of 12 she made a beautiful dress for her doll. We worked together to help Miriam create her square into a beautiful embroidery of her golden hands.”

She added: “I was really honoured to be the first recipient of this special award. I look at the quilt and it brings a real smile to my face, it’s truly magnificent and it has so much meaning to many people.”