A group of adults with learning difficulties from a Melksham group enjoyed a bingo train trip through the local area recently.
A total of 15 adults from Melksham’s Shine Friendship Cafe, aided by support workers and volunteers, boarded the train at Melksham station for a fun tour of the Wiltshire countryside thanks to local community rail partnership, TransWilts.
Along the way they played games of bingo, led by Great Western Railway (GWR) conductor, Henry-Arthur Freeman. They travelled to Swindon before heading to Westbury and then back to Melksham.
Melksham’s Shine Friendship Café is a weekly social space for adults with learning difficulties and their support workers, offering a fun session full of bingo and karaoke, as well as a quiet session.
Centre Manager for the café, Carolyn Fernandes, accompanied the group on their trip and said, “It was a lovely day, very inclusive and everyone very much enjoyed the experience. They all enjoy bingo at Shine and so quickly got into the game, even helping Henry call the numbers. A couple of our members are transport enthusiasts and so were also very chuffed to be able to have a behind-the-scenes tour of the train.
“Everyone was very keen to take part in the fun and all the train staff were very pleasant and engaging. Now having been on the train in such a fun way, I think if any of the group needed to get another train for any reason it will have lessened their anxiety about travel in the future.”
TransWilts Community Partnership Manager, Sophie Martin said, “Having fun on the train is a great way to boost people’s confidence in travelling this way again. By helping our local communities access Wiltshire’s railway lines, we can help take the worries away from travelling and hopefully next time they need to head somewhere, they might look at whether they could do it by train again.”
Information on the Shine Friendship Café can be found on Facebook by searching for Shine Friendship Café or by emailing shinefriendshipcafe@gmail.com.
For more information on TransWilts, visit www.transwilts.org
Pictured: The Shine Friendship group at Melksham Railway Station
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