Well, what a fantastic start to our Poynton adventure! Our very first Dementia Disco at the Legion Club on Saturday, May 3rd, was a resounding success! It was brilliant to welcome almost 50 people through the doors, including a wonderful group from Poynton's Golden Memories – thank you so much to Johnny, Errol, and Judy for helping us to spread the word!
A special shout-out also goes to the lovely Judy for the most gorgeous disco ball balloon, complete with a 'Welcome to Poynton' message. It truly captured the warm and friendly atmosphere we felt from everyone.
It was wonderful to see so many of our amazing volunteers there, lending their support and making everything run so smoothly. And a huge thank you to the wonderful Poynton Tea Rooms for providing a delicious hot pot – both the meat and veggie options went down a treat! The evening was filled with good chat, plenty of laughter, and of course, lots of fantastic moves on the dance floor. It was so lovely to see familiar faces from our other discos mixing with some brand new ones.
We're already counting down to our next Poynton disco, which is happening this Saturday (that's the 3rd of May!) from 5pm to 7pm at the Legion Club. If you'd like to join the fun, there is no need to book – just come along! It's completely free, and we'll have another tasty complimentary meal for everyone. We also run a fundraising raffle if you fancy trying your luck, but please know there's never any pressure to take part.
This Poynton event marks our third regular monthly disco, alongside our discos in care homes. Excitingly, we're hoping to expand even further and get a fourth monthly disco up and running before the year is out, so keep your eyes peeled for more news on that!
Want to learn more about Dementia Disco and find out about all our upcoming events? You can find all the information you need right here:
Upcoming events from Dementia Disco
Blimey, our Dance Against Dementia campaign, which kicked off on 21st March, is really getting everyone on their feet!
We're still calling on you lovely lot to join us in dancing every day until 26th May. Why? To show the Government loud and clear that they simply can't ignore dementia. We're aiming for a good old boogie for 66.7 days – that represents the 66.7% diagnosis target that's sadly been removed from the NHS Operational Planning Guidance. Let's show them what we think of that!
And wowzers, the campaign's been going brilliantly so far! We've already logged a truly staggering 3,062 dances! To keep the momentum going and give our dance tally a proper boost, we've had a couple of absolutely cracking dance events.
First up was our Stockport County Take Over on Saturday 12th April. A massive thank you to everyone at The Armoury, Shaw Heath, and all the wonderful Stockport County fans who joined in the fun and danced their socks off for us! A special cheer has to go to the absolute dancing legend that is Jean England, who was a total inspiration, encouraging so many fans and even the marshals to have a proper jig with us!
Then, on Saturday 26th April, we held our second dance extravaganza at our Takeover of the Royal Nawaab Pyramid. We had a fantastic team of 35 volunteers join us, and a huge thank you to each and every one of them for learning our brilliant Pyramid dance routine, which was fabulously put together by our very own Phil. We also want to send a massive thank you to Mo from the Royal Nawaab for letting us loose in their gorgeous restaurant and for even joining in our dance – what a star! And a big thank you to them too for laying on some delicious snacks for us all after our performance.
Amazingly, another huge dance event was happening at the same time as our Pyramid takeover! The UK's biggest Morris Dancing celebration was taking place all over Stockport's Merseyway Centre. With over 1,000 Morris dancers taking part, we would like to say a massive thank you to Adlington Morris Men for letting us count all their fantastic dances towards our total!
Our DAD campaign will be reaching its grand finale on Monday 26th May (that's Bank Holiday Monday), when we'll be completing a (nearly!) dance marathon from Stockport Road in Mossley (where my Dad lived as a lad) all the way to Stockport County's Edgeley Park Stadium. If you fancy joining us for this final push, please do get in touch – the more the merrier!
And finally, please, please keep logging your dances for us. It really does all count, whether it's a quick ten-second wiggle in your kitchen, your weekly Zumba class, or a proper night out with your mates! A conga down the supermarket aisle, a jump around at a birthday bash, or even an all-night rave! Every single dance helps us to make our point.
Please log your dances with just one click at the link below:
And if you're sharing your fancy footwork on social media, please use these hashtags so we can see them and cheer you on:
#DanceAgainstDementia
#DontIgnoreDementia
#DanceToChangeDementia
Cheers everyone and keep dancing!
What a truly delightful morning we had at the Cheadle Hulme Garden and Allotment Society's Bacon and Sausage Butty Morning on Sunday 27th April. The sun was shining down on us, and honestly, the allotments were an absolute treat for the eyes. There's also a lovely garden there, with winding paths and a pond that's just perfect for a wander. My little one had a fantastic time on a mini-adventure, spotting all the charming wooden ladybirds and bees dotted around!
And the best bit? The wonderful folks at the Garden and Allotment Society have very kindly donated all the proceeds from their marvelous butty sales straight to Dementia Disco! They raised an incredible £325! Absolutely brilliant!
A massive thank you to Deborah Puttick and all the amazing Handy Ladies for putting on such a cracking morning for everyone. And of course, a big thank you to each and every person who bought a delicious butty and a cuppa – your support means the world to us!
We even managed to squeeze in our daily dance for Dance Against Dementia by having a mini-disco amongst the greenery! So, another big thank you to Deborah and the Handy Ladies for joining in our boogie – you're all super stars!
