A new disco night run at the Canberra Centre for adults with special needs was a big hit when the inaugural event was held on Friday 12th April.
The new disco, delivered by the team at Young Melksham, targets adults of any age with physical and/or learning disabilities. About 50 people plus their carers attended the disco, with the hits being played from 7pm to 10pm. The night saw non-stop hits being played by the house DJ (chair of trustees, Jon Hubbard) and a bar and café facility being run by volunteers.
The event, the brainchild of youth work manager, Gemma Connolly, was started to help meet the needs of young adults whose birthdays took them over 25 and made them too old to attend the charity’s No Limits SEND Youth Club.
Gemma said, “It was really heart-breaking to have to tell these wonderful young adults that they couldn’t come to Canberra any more. We couldn’t let them continue coming on a Monday night as we just aren’t able to manage that big an age range, so I asked if we could run a special evening occasionally for older people with the same challenges.”
Feedback from those attending the event was overwhelmingly positive, with some of the comments from support workers saying, “It really was a relaxed, fun and safe environment for the guys to enjoy spending time together.”
“Our service users really enjoyed the night. The only other one in the area is in Bath and that’s a long way for us to travel.”
Attendees attending the event said, “It was a brilliant night, I can’t wait for the next one.” “I had a great time, the music was really good.”
Chair of trustees at Young Melksham, Jon Hubbard said, “It was a great night and it was truly awesome to see so many people in the centre all having a great time. Having seen how well this pilot event has gone, we are now looking to run a similar disco every month. It’s great that we can use this amazing facility at the Canberra Centre to help meet the needs of as many in the community as possible. We will always be a youth centre, but that does not mean that only young people can use the centre.”
Following the success of the evening the team is now looking at extending the disco to a monthly event and they are now consulting those who attended about any changes or improvements that they would like to see.
Young Melksham is based at The Canberra Centre, 56 Spa Road, SN12 7NY; tel. 01225 667327; hello@young melksham.org.uk; visit www. young melksham.org.uk
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