Sixteen months after the Covid Lockdown forced all of its popular SING&SMILE daytime singalongs to close, the Golden-Oldies Charity will be re-introducing sessions across England and Wales in the weeks ahead.
As the country emerges from Lockdown plans are now in place to reintroduce the Goldies sessions and the first groups in England and Wales are (listed below at the end of this release) …
The Charity, more fondly referred to as ‘Goldies’, was founded by Bath-based musician Grenville Jones in 2007. For many years Grenville had built a reputation as one of the UK’s foremost choir leaders and had learnt first-hand of the positive social effects of singing in a choir or a music group.
“I wanted to grab the atmosphere of fun and friendship and bring it to older isolated people through daytime ‘singalongs’ of the memory-evoking hits of the 60s and onwards.”
Grenville himself took the first four sessions in and around Bath and Bristol in 2008 and is always quick to point out that his Charity is NOT about choir singing.
“Goldies gives older isolated people something to look forward to, a chance to get out, make new friends and singalong to those popular hits of the past,” he said.
From small beginnings, and with Sir Cliff Richard as Patron, the work of the Charity has grown across England and Wales (Goldies Cymru) and, prior to Lockdown, in March 2020 there were over 200 daytime fun singalong Goldies sessions taking place in Libraries, community rooms and Church halls, led by74 dedicated locally-based session leaders.
Those attending the sessions ware older people, many living in community housing, adults with learning difficulties and people living with dementia – everyone is welcome at a Goldies session.
Over the years the Charity has received considerable support from many philanthropic Trusts, Local Authorities, Organisations and the National Lottery in both England and Wales. There has also been considerable media coverage of Goldies over the years and, through 2020, the popular ITV soap Emmerdale featured a Goldies session during its commercial breaks, made possible with the support of the People’s Postcode Lottery Community Fund.
Academic studies have endorsed the benefits that the Golden-Oldies Charity brings to isolated people. It has also worked with Primary Schools in recent years with support from the Lottery Heritage Fund and in 2018 received the accolade of winning the Education Category of the National Lottery Awards – a project based on the music of the First World War.
When forced by Covid to close all sessions, Goldies looked to the internet, Facebook and YouTube to bring its fun sessions to people in their homes. Popular Wales-based leaders Rachel Parry and Cheryl Davies lead the twice-weekly sessions under the www.goldieslive.com banner, with people joining from their homes across the United Kingdom. These will continue through to next Spring.
Future plans for the charity include a second Charity Shop in Cardiff and the introduction of the work of the Charity with older people in Scotland. The Golden-Oldies Charity is not one that stands still! The Charity is always looking to recruit new session leaders across the UK and to hear from organisations who work with older isolated people. The website is the starting point with contact details and helpful information.
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