Gardener Shelley Scruse has taken part in a fire walk and walked barefoot over broken glass for the Alzheimer’s group that is helping her mother who was left with memory problems after a stroke.

Mrs Scruse, 57, who lives in Edington, made the two walks at a holistic centre near Marlbor-ough, raising more than £500 which she will be dividing between Wiltshire Alzheimer’s Support and the national Alzheimer’s Society.

She did it to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s groups because of the benefit her mother Marian Giddings from Pewsey receives from attending weekly singing sessions held in the Kennet Valley Hall at Lockeridge.

Mrs Giddings, 85, regularly attends the Singing for the Brain sessions run by Alzheimer’s Support for sufferers with a range of dementia problems.

Mrs Scruse said: “It is the highlight of mum’s week to go to Singing for the Brain. She has been going for two years now and is the longest serving member of the group.

“It is absolutely brilliant and I cannot speak highly enough of the group and the benefit both my parents get from it.

“It does amazing work and it has been so beneficial for my mum while at the same time it gives my dad some respite knowing she is well looked after and doing something she enjoys.”

Knowing that his wife is being cared for at the singing sessions gives Ted Giddings some time to himself when he does not have to worry about looking after his wife, their daughter said.

Mrs Scruse said she was so delighted with the work of Alzheimer’s Support that she decided to walk over the bed of red-hot burning embers not once but four times and then rounded off her charity fund-raising stunt by walking over a pit of broken glass.

She said: “It toasted my toes but I didn’t burn. “I had planned to do the fire walk and was really determined to go through with it although I hadn’t planned on the glass walk.”

Although the firewalk is over it’s not too late to support Mrs Scruse’s fundraising and donate to the website: www.justgiving. com/Marian-Shelley-Scruse2 The Singing for the Brain group in Lockeridge runs on Thursday mornings and Stephany Bardzil from Alzheimer’s Support said it has spaces for people with memory loss and their carers. Call (01225) 776481 for details.

Alzheimer’s Support also runs Alzheimer cafés for sufferers and their carers.

Currently in the UK there are 820,000 dementia sufferers and more than 6,300 in Wiltshire.