News

January turned out to be a busy month for the group. As usual we had our two Music for the Mind sessions both sessions were well attended with between 40 and 50 attendees at each despite the bad weather. As there were 5 Thursdays in January we held a boccia session (akin to sitting down bowls) for which we had our best attendance ever with over 30 people altogether. Everybody who wanted to play had a go and there was plenty of encouragement from those watching. The quality of play continues to improve and everybody had a good time. Thanks to all our volunteers for their help.

Two of our committee attended a meeting of BEES, a ladies’ group that meets in Whitchurch. They presented us with a cheque for over £1200. They had made us their Charity of the Year for 2025 and the group worked really hard to raise the money. The picture shows Mike and Merrial receiving the cheque from the BEES treasurer. The lady on the right is Julie who is one of our volunteers and is also a member of BEES and suggested us to be their Charity of the Year. Thanks Julie.

We also received £200 from St Monica’s who organised a Christmas Fayre with profits going to our charity. It was greatly appreciated. The activities group at St Monica’s also bring some of their residents to our Music for the Mind sessions.

The Chocolate Quarter has a small cinema which we have rented on 3 occasions recently. During January we invited our members to a showing of the movie Shirley Valentine which went down really well. Most of those who attended stayed on to have lunch in the restaurant. More outings will be arranged during the year. The cinema has been booked for Thursday 19^th March but the film hasn’t been chosen yet.

Our regular free Music for the Mind sessions are on the 2^nd and 4^th Thursdays of the month in St Dunstan’s Church Hall between 10.30 until 12.15. All welcome and you are guaranteed a warm reception. For more information visit our website at www.keynshamdaa.co.uk or e-mail ksdaa22@gmail.com

We only had one Music for the Mind in December but we made it a very happy occasion. Altogether there were about 60 people present in St Dunstan’s church hall, including our friends with relatives and carers plus all our volunteers.

Judith, ably assisted by Jayne and Jenny, did a marvellous job in the kitchen with lots of food and drink. The room looked fantastic with all the tables decorated for Christmas. The programme for the day was different to normal. Lindy still led a warm-up and we did some singing but the two main parts of the meeting included a Keynsham’s Got Talent competition and a pantomime. Christmas has to include a panto and this year it was Cinderella.

There were 6 acts altogether and between each one we had some singing. Margaret was the first act and she read two wonderful poems which went down very well. She was followed by Rick who played a lovely classical piece on his Clarinet. This was followed by Julie and Pete who brilliantly sang and acted out “There’s a Hole in my Bucket”. This was followed by Tom reading a poem which he did expertly. Tom hadn’t been to our sessions recently due to illness so it was great to see his cheery smile again. Next on the stage was Judith. Not only is she great in the kitchen but she is great at telling jokes and as usual she had everybody in stitches. The final performance was another duet with Mike and Julie who gave a brilliant exhibition of how to jive to Bill Haley’s Rock around the Clock. Mike has been coming to our sessions for many years and is always full of fun.

The final piece of entertainment was the pantomime, Cinderella. All the volunteers took part so the script had to be adapted so everybody had a part. Huge thanks go to Julie for writing the script, providing props and ordering everybody about. It all went really well and it was well received by our audience. We finished off with a couple of carols and then it was farewell to everybody until 2026. See you there. A happy new year to everybody.

We started off October with a railway trip to Bristol on 2^nd October which was reported below this report.

We had our usual Music for the Mind sessions on the 9^th and 23^rd October and both sessions went very well with good numbers at each sessions. Lindy, who leads our singing, informed us that the session on the 23^rd October was our 150^th Music for the Mind, the first one being in May 2017.We missed quite a few due to Covid but apart from that, only one other session has been cancelled. Special mention must go to Lindy who has done a wonderful job leading our singing and exercises. She has missed very few meetings since we started. Similarly June has accompanied Lindy for most of the meetings and Judith has also missed very few sessions and has done great work in organising the kitchen to provide drinks, biscuits and cakes to everyone. Several other volunteers have been in long term action making sure that everything goes according to plan. We are lucky to have such a great set of volunteers.

There were 5 Thursdays in October so another boccia session was arranged for 30^th. It proved to be another enjoyable session. St Phillips turned out in numbers and we also had several couples turning up to play, some of them for the first time. Altogether there was probably about 30 people there including volunteers. There was some very good play and lots of cheering and encouragement. The kitchen staff did a great job as usual. The next boccia session will be on Thursday 29^th January 2026.

November started with a bang as well with our annual Christmas trip to Cadbury’s Garden Centre to get ready for xmas. It was a bit early but our normal date at the end of the month was not available. It didn’t make any difference as everyone still had a great time. 26 went including volunteers. Sixteen went with Dial-a-Ride minibus plus 4 cars. Drinks and cake were provided on arrival and then we all reassembled together for lunch in a private room. A few presents were bought on the way back to the minibus and we ended up back in Keynsham by about 3.30. The staff at Cadbury’s always look after us really well so we will probably be back there again next year. The pictures below were all taken at Cadburys.

Our last session of 2025 will be on 11^th December when the volunteers will be putting on another pantomime. Oh no they won’t!! Oh yes they will!!

Happy New Year everyone.

We arranged another day out with Faye Keane from the Severnside Community Rail Partnership. Faye’s role is to arrange rail trips for groups similar to ours to show that travelling by rail can be accessible to everyone with limited mobility. Previously we have had very successful trips to Bath and Bradford-on-Avon and this time we went to Bristol for the day.

Five couples and four volunteers met up in St Dunstan’s car park on Thursday 2^nd October. We got Dial-a-Ride to take us all down to Keynsham railway station where we met up with Faye. The eight minute ride on the 10.38 into Temple Meads and the taxis to take us all to the M-Shed by the Bristol waterfront were both arranged by Faye. We all had a drink and then wandered around the museum before retiring to the nearby Salt and Malt restaurant for fish and chips. After that some went for a walk along the waterfront and some looked around more of the museum. We all met up at 2.15 for the return journey and we arrived back in Keynsham at 3.15, bang on time.

Everybody thoroughly enjoyed their day out. Faye was a fantastic guide and she got on well with everybody and was incredibly helpful giving us lots of information about how to make the best use of the railway system in order to get the best value from the journey. Hopefully we will be able to organise another trip in the not too distant future.

DAY TRIP TO OAKHAM TREASURES

At the start of May we arranged a trip to Oakham Treasurers which is in Portbury. We have been there a couple of times before but it is always good value for a day trip. The exhibits include cars, bikes, farm machinery. household goods, toys and lots of other things that we loved and forgotten about through the last 80 years or so. Most of us used Dial-a-Ride but a few drove themselves. In total there was just over 20 in all. We had a drink when we arrived, then had a walk round before lunch and then free time before we returned home. Everybody seemed to enjoy it.

THE KEYNSHAM MUSIC FESTIVAL

The Keynsham Music Festival took place over the weekend of 4th to 6^th July. For the third year running we were invited to put on a Music for the Mind session in the Big Top in Keynsham Park. This time we ran it in the morning rather than in the afternoon and it proved to be the best session we have done there with between 70 and 80 people in attendance. We put on all the refreshments and biscuits and the festival provided us with acts from the festival that included the bubble man, a couple of acrobats and a singer accompanied by an organist. Then the final hour saw Lindy lead one of our music sessions with June and John Hare providing the backing.

On the Sunday afternoon of the festival there were lots of bands playing throughout the day and there were many stalls selling all sorts of things. Julie, one of our volunteers, ran a tombola stall all day and the proceeds from the stall, about £400’ will be donated to our charity. Julie is a member of a ladies group in Whitchurch, and they made our DAA their Charity of the Year. Many thanks to Julie and all her friends for all their hard work.

AFTERNOON TEA AND CONCERT

Tuesday 19^th August was the day of our annual tea party organised and arranged by our Judith, our Head of Kitchen. She had a lot of support from our regulars Jane and Jenny plus other volunteers. The afternoon starts off with Lindy, who runs our Music for the Mind sessions, showing us what a great voice she has. She was ably supported by Geoff on organ. Lindy sang several songs from the old musicals, Geoff read out a couple of humorous poems and Judith entertained us with some very good jokes. This was then followed by tea which consisted of scone with jam and cream Cornish fashion, plus cakes and hot drinks. There were between 40 and 50 present who all enjoyed the afternoon and I’m sure Judith will arrange another one next year if we ask her nicely.

MUSIC FOR THE MIND

As well as all the above going on, our twice monthly Music for the Mind sessions continue in St Dunstan’s Church Hall from 10.30 until 12.15. It’s free and it’s open to all with dementia as long as they are accompanied by a relative or friend.

Since May there has been 2 sessions of boccia on the 5^th Thursday of May and July. The next one at the end of October will be the last one for 2025.

On the morning of 14^th July 13 of our volunteers took part in a First Aid course that was run by a tutor from the Red Cross. It was a wonderful opportunity for us all to refresh our knowledge of first aid and to give us the knowledge and confidence to give help to those that need it during our sessions.

DONATION FROM MERYTON PLACE CARE HOME

On the 26^th August, Meryton Place Care Home held a beach party for their residents and friends. The weather was good and lots of people turned up to wander around all the stalls. Food and drink were plentiful and everybody enjoyed a great afternoon. The proceeds from the afternoon were donated to our dementia group along with other money they had collected during the year.

Sarah and Cheryl from Meryton Place came along to our Music for the Mind session on the 14^th August and handed over a cheque for £730 to June, Merrial and Mike. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Meryton for their kind donation on behalf of our committee, our volunteers and all our members.