The 81-year-old icon shared her health news back in June via her husband Scott Brand.

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Now Julie has been pictured for the first time as she attended the Alzheimer’s Society’s Memory Walks, joining a wave of fundraisers who turned London and Manchester blue to help end the devastation caused by dementia. 

Julie and Scott arrived at Heaton Park to take part in the charity‘s flagship fundraiser alongside hundreds of walkers across the 2-7km routes.

The Bet Lynch icon looked in good spirits as she smiled at the start line in a wheelchair while wearing one of the charity’s sky blue T-shirts.

Speaking about the walk today, Scott said: “Julie and I are delighted to be supporting the Manchester Memory Walk in Heaton Park this year.

“We want to make sure that anyone else who has been impacted by a dementia diagnosis knows they are not alone – we know that one in three of us born today will go on to develop dementia, and so many more families, friends and carers will be affected as a result.

“Since receiving Julie’s diagnosis, the support we have had from Alzheimer’s Society’s team in Rochdale has been amazing. It has helped to take such a burden off our shoulders.”

Commenting on Julie’s condition, Scott added: “Julie is now living with Alzheimer’s, not suffering with it – and that’s a big difference.

“Calling these events ‘Memory Walks’ is most appropriate; of course, memory is one of the things most affected by this cruel disease, but Julie and I are also trying to make more memories together.

“Taking part in this walk was a wonderful new memory for us to share.”

Julie wasn’t the only famous face in attendance, as 200 miles south in London, actor and comedian Meera Syal took part in the event at Potters Field in London.  

Speaking about her connection to the cause, Meera said: “I became an Alzheimer’s Society Ambassador in 2013 after my father was diagnosed with dementia.  

“Sadly, my mum was very recently also diagnosed with a rare form of dementia called PSP. Although both my parents have passed now, I and my brother’s family cared for both of them for over a decade, so we know only too well what a devastating effect this disease has on carers and those living with it.

Julie played Bet Lynch in Coronation Street on and off from 1966 to 2003.

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