Hannah Riches was a police officer, craft shop owner and logistics fleet manager before she became a full-time carer for her husband, who was diagnosed with Young Onset Dementia in 2015. She lives in Reading with their two teenage girls.

During the Covid lockdown of 2020 she and her daughter wrote and self-published a cookbook, Bessie Bakes: Fond memories and fun recipes, which went on to raise over £5000 for Dementia UK. It was featured heavily in local press and radio and secured Hannah and Bessie a slot on Steph’s Packed Lunch in April 2021.

Inspired by this experience Hannah began to collate all the notes she had scribbled down during the years of caring for her husband and started writing a memoir which she hopes will raise awareness, educate people beyond the ‘granny in a rocking chair’ image frequently associated with the disease, and help other families affected by it.

When not ferrying her children around or visiting her husband in the care home, Hannah enjoys swimming, pottery, and Dairy Milk chocolate, all of which she credits as being integral to her survival over the past few years.