AN OPTICIANS will raise money for charity in support of Wold Alzheimer's Day.

East Street business Scrivens Opticians and Hearing Care is hoping to raise funding for the Alzheimer's Society by holding a cake sale and a guess the name of the teddy competition.

The firm will hold the event on Saturday (26), after choosing the Alzheimer's Society as its charity for the year.

There is growing evidence of a link between uncorrected hearing loss and dementia, including Alzheimer's.

The opticians has pledged to donate £1 to the charity for every hearing screening this week as part of its fundraising activities.

Scrivens branch manager Sophie Briggs, said: "Dementia touches so many families and World Alzheimer's Day gives us a chance to raise awareness of the charity and the need for funds for research and support.

"Our hearing screenings are free of charge and we want to encourage people over 40 years of age to have regular hearing checks as they do eye tests.

"We thought this would be a great way to do both and fundraise for our chosen charity."

Alzheimer’s Society is the leading support and research charity in the UK for people with dementia and those who care for them. In the UK, 225,000 people will develop dementia this year, with 850,000 people already affected. The charity estimates 23 million people have a close friend or family member with dementia.

World Alzheimer’s Day, supported by the Alzheimer’s Society, is an opportunity to focus on the great work going on all over the world to fight dementia and to raise awareness.

The World Alzheimer Report 2015 found that the total estimated worldwide cost of dementia has now reached £521 billion.

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "The cost of dementia continues to soar, yet research spending does not even equal one per cent of this amount - it is six times lower than cancer research spending.

"There has been some welcome indication recently that improvements in healthcare, lifestyle, education and living standards in Western Europe may be playing a role in reducing dementia prevalence. Yet we also know that other risk factors, such as diabetes, are increasing.

"What's important is that we do not become complacent about the magnitude of the challenge that we face, and seek to address it with proper funding for care and research."