Happy February. I thought it would be a good idea to use the first blog of the month to talk about the plans of the month and what we have going on, kicking off with the success of the first Pop Up Charity Shop.
Friday 2nd February was the first of our monthly pop-up charity shops which was an absolute hit. The reception area was transformed into a charity shop with tables of bric-a-brac and books, rails of clothing and even two mannequins sporting some of our stock. Our lovely students and Tom were on the till and in just four hours we managed to make £97.50! With gift aid, this will take the total to over £100! We have started to accumulate more things for next month's charity shop which will take place on Friday 1st March, 10am-2pm at Rhodes Bank Chambers. We hope to make this one bigger and better than the last one.
Throughout February we have lots of other exciting things happening. Our first Wednesday Social of the month, Wednesday 7th February, will be a Chinese New Year Party. We will be decorating the centre, providing a variety of Chinese food in a buffet style and having a themed quiz. We have asked everyone to wear something red for the occasion and we can't wait to celebrate the year of the dragon.
On Friday 9th February the Rhodes Bank Choir have been invited to perform as the closing act at Forever Manchester's annual birthday bash at the Kimpton Clock Tower in Manchester. Forever Manchester is one of our funders and the choir are very excited to perform at such a wonderful event, after being pampered during the day by the students from Oldham College.
Wednesday 14th will be a Valentine's themed social group. Of course, we will still be doing everyone’s favorite things such as karaoke and bingo, but the centre will be decorated in red and white and our activities will be themed around love!
Continuing the Valentine theme, on Friday 23rd we will be heading to Hurst Cross for our Friday Night Club, which will be our Valentine's Disco. Paul Thomas will serenade us with some love songs and we have asked that if you can, to wear red white or pink. Karaoke, bingo and food will all feature and as the party is 6-9 we will have an extra hour to dance, sing and have fun with all of our friends.
As always, we look forward to seeing all of our service users at each of our activities and if you would like to come to any of our activities for the first time please call the office on 0161 627 1025.
Emily Trelore, 5th Feb 2024