Real stories

Helping create a new theatre play about dementia and football

I first started watching Leeds United when I was 14. This was back in the days that the Kop at Elland Road, United’s ground, was all open to the elements, so sometimes you got absolutely drenched.

Sport’s always been a constant in my life since childhood – cricket as well as football.

But theatre is a completely new experience for me – I never thought my passion for Leeds United would take me in the direction it has.

Difficult dementia diagnosis

Being diagnosed with dementia in 2015 was a difficult time. A dark time.

But getting involved with lots of different activities with my wife Lyn has made a massive difference.

We’re members of a DEEP (Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project) group at Leeds Playhouse and Dementia Friendly Leeds, which is all about trying to make society more dementia friendly. 

We want our experiences to help others. 

Mick with his beloved team and with playwright Chris O'Connor

Sharing my experience of dementia

It’s through DEEP that we were asked if we wanted to contribute to a new play called Through It All Together by a local playwright called Chris O’Connor.

It’s about a couple who are big fans of Leeds United and are dealing with dementia, while the club is being promoted under its manager Marcelo Bielsa.

Bielsa is still a big hero in Leeds even though he’s not the manager anymore. There’s a mural of him outside a fish and chip shop near us.

I didn’t hesitate to say yes to getting involved. I just love talking to people about Leeds United.

How we helped with the play 

Supporting the play has been a gradual process, over two years or so.

Early on Chris came to the Corner Flag Café. This is a dementia support group at Elland Road that Lyn and I go to.

It’s an important place for us, very supportive.

Through it, we’ve also had the chance to meet a few of the players, go into the dressing rooms and on the pitch.

Chris sat and spoke with us about life, what joining the group means and being a fan of the club.

We talked about our experiences of following the team, including through the Covid pandemic when we were all watching matches at home.

We’ve also been to a read-through of the script, which was a chance to comment on the things we liked and didn’t like. As we sat there and listened, we connected to it straight away.

We also gave our feedback about the play’s poster.

Staying active with dementia

When you have dementia, you think maybe you’re not going to get listened to and get opportunities. So being involved with the play has been brilliant.

You’ve got to make the effort. Things don’t come to you. You have to keep on fighting.

Getting out is good for us both. 

We haven’t gone backwards. I feel like we’ve gone forwards and done more.