THE colourful pencil drawing of a mature woman is more than a work of art.

Sentences weaved within the grey strands of hair demonstrate the gradual confusion through the progression of dementia, the devastating condition affecting 850,000 people in the UK.

For artist, Kate Clarke, the award-winning work hanging in the reception of Hillbro Nursing Home, Baildon, where her beloved mum Bronwyn is a resident, is indicative of the condition she and her family have been coping with since her mum's diagnosis a decade ago.

Bronwyn is now in the advanced stages of the condition. Her diagnosis, at 62, came at a time when she and her devoted husband, Roger, who visits his wife every day and is still instrumental in her care, were looking forward to retirement.

Bronwyn was 60 when she left her job teaching maths at St Joseph's College in Bradford. Roger had retired as a psychiatric social worker, working mainly with children and adolescents.

"We thought we were in line for a happy retirement. I was into long distance running and walking and I was into all sorts of things and Bronwyn was into lace-making and choirs and we both enjoyed going out in the open air."

A keen map reader, Bronwyn would navigate on trips, whether travelling by car or on their walks, and it was the confusion with this well-practised skill which eventually led to her dementia diagnosis.

"Bronwyn was becoming more disorientated. She had always been the map reader and was really accurate. It came to a head when we were going on holiday. She would navigate to the holiday cottages and she was getting us lost and getting quite upset about it. We realised something was wrong but fortunately she did accept there was a problem."

Roger refers to the situation of delayed diagnosis when the sufferer doesn't accept something is wrong.

After seeing her GP Bronwyn was referred to the Memory Clinic and was swiftly diagnosed with dementia.

"We didn't know what to expect, although I had some idea because of my professional background I had dealt with dementia to some extent while in adult mental health, but for Bronwyn it was life shattering. We realised nothing would be the same again but we were determined we would face the disease together. Terry Pratchett's attitude was he was going to fight it and that was the way we were looking at it too.

"We tried to carry on as much as normal as possible."

Bronwyn helped Roger with the walking groups he led around their home town of Shipley; she enjoyed ice-skating, a skill she developed from taking up roller-booting with her sister when they were teenagers. Bronwyn would attend weekly sessions at Bradford Ice Arena, a pastime she shared with her daughter and grandson.

But, gradually, dementia took away that enjoyment, along with singing, as, despite the help and support from those around her in the sessions and the choir she sang with, Bronwyn was struggling with instructions.

"The whole thing crept up on us. We thought we would fight it but it began to dawn on us it was getting a bit of a losing battle."

The couple found a wealth of support through the Alzheimer's Society. "We were very lucky that the Alzheimer's Society provided us with a support worker who is a lovely lady, Sarah Hodgson. She has been our support worker from the beginning to the present day and she still comes to see Bronwyn even though she has retired," says Roger.

It was through the Alzheimer's Society that Bronwyn and daughter Kate enjoyed breaks - giving Kate the inspiration for the coloured pencil drawing she would later create.

As well as winning 'Best in Show' at the Birmingham Royal Society of Artists exhibition, the drawing was also included in the Society of Women Artists 150th exhibition at The Mall Galleries in London.

Roger believes their daughter has inherited her Mum's creative flair. "I am just so proud of her really that she has that talent that she got from her Mum," says Roger.

He explains the drawing, described as a Triptych as it depicts a series of three pictures, initially demonstrates the first stage of the condition - the bewilderment of what has happening; the second stage reflects the anxiety and agitation and the third stage is indicative of the sufferer becoming less anxious and in a world of their own.

The sentences depicted in the strands of hair become more fragmented through this process.

"Mum was definitely my role model for all things art and craft," says Kate.

She explains how the scrapbook she created from the holidays she and her mum went on with the Alzheimer's Society, and family albums she has compiled for her own family since, were inspired by the albums of family photographs her mum would personalise with tiny water colour illustrations of wild flowers and momentoes such as tickets and sugar wrappers.

"I remember her always having crafty projects on the go.. from macrame to batik. She made my brother a tie-dye, batik door hanging of a dalek once. Of course, her real passion was bobbin lace.

"I remember her teaching me how to make peg dolls and clothes for all my dolls and one Christmas we screen printed all our cards in the kitchen. They were blue angels sprinkled with glitter. So much of everything I do that's art related I can trace back to memories of my mum," says Kate.

Eventually, it was the decline in Bronwyn's condition that dictated the decision for her to go into Hillbro where Kate explains her Mum's room is filled with precious photographs and memories placed there by her father who visits his wife every day.

As well as close family, the couple also have a son, Richard, who lives in Finland with his family, Roger and Bronwyn also appreciate the support they have received from friends and colleagues.

"The people we have been associated with, the friends are still supporting us," says Roger, referring to the generous £400 donation fundraised by the Sixth Form college at St Joseph's where Bronwyn taught which the family have donated to the Alzheimer's Society.

Looking to the future, Roger says: "You very rapidly learn to live life every day and make the most of every day and also realise that nothing is going to be the same again once you start to suffer from something like dementia or another long term illness.

"Their whole life has to change and you have to face that and do it fairly quickly but keep positive about ways of managing it.

"There is no point in living on regret and unhappiness. You just have to see the positive side of whatever it hits you with and that is what we are doing right now."

For more information, advice or support visit alzheimers.org.uk. You can also call the Bradford office on 01274 586008 or email bradford@alzheimers.org.uk