January 23, 2018

Family Disco

One of our Radstock Junior’s parents Jason Preston is hosting a family disco, on Saturday 3rd February  7.30pm -11.30pm at Pratten Social Club, Charlton Lane, Radstock, BA3 4BD. 

All welcome. 

Please support  Jason and buy a ticket, he has arranged to put on  a fun filled  party for friends and family!   All money raised will go towards fun activities for our members.

 

February 22, 2018

Future Foundations – Raising funds for the new premises appeal.

On Saturday 17th February 2018 we hosted our 2nd Dinner and Auction at the Saltford Golf Club.  The event raised over £3100, and was held in aid of the Society’s New Building Appeal.

128 guests arrived at 7pm and were greeted with a warm welcome and a glass of prosecco. As the guests were invited to view the auction items live Jazz was performed exquisitely by Nicki Jefferis and Anders Olinder.  Everyone looked great in their black tie and evening dresses.

This year we had a mix of silent and live auction items all generously donated by local organisations, and they included; complimentary pizzas at the new B Block Café  in the Chocolate Quarter, kindly donated by St Monica Trust. 2 standard return rail tickets to anywhere in the southwest via Great Western Railway. Dinner for 2 and bottle of wine at the Olive Tree Restaurant in Bath. A beautifully framed limited edition print entitled ‘Reflection’ by local artist Anna Smith. Family passes for Avon Valley Wildlife Park, the Roman Baths, Fashion Museum, Victoria Art Gallery and the Grand Pier at Weston-Super- Mare. A 3 course dinner for two plus wine at the Pig Hotel in Pensford. A 30 minute flight simulator experience donated by Bristol and Wessex Aeroplane Club. A round of golf for 2 at Stockwood Vale Golf Club. A half day retreat for two at the Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath was the jewel in the crown.

The evening also included a raffle, and the generosity of local businesses was overwhelming, prizes included a gift voucher from Wild about Flowers, a hot air balloon ride with Bath Balloons donated by Bath Building Society, a family race day at Castle Coombe race circuit, back massage from Pure Beauty in Keynsham, bottles of fizz from Tesco and Sainsbury and a bowling game courtesy of Bowlplex at Longwell Green.

Michael Ashbee of Davies and Way once again provided his expert services of auctioneer and kept the guests buzzing with excitement and raising their bids to the max.

Our chair Lisa O’Brien gave a heart-warming speech and this year the theme was ‘Family’.  ‘We are all part of one family.  We support each other and we celebrate the support we receive from our community’.

It was great to see a real mix of guests; society members, trustees, staff, volunteers and friends of the society, old and new attended and enjoyed the sumptuous food laid on by the staff of Haywoods Kitchen.  Thanks goes to our corporate guests, who for the second year running have supported our event, iTeam Solutions from Saltford, VansGB of Bath and Toplink Envelopes Ltd all had tables and enjoyed the evening.

A surprise was in store for us as the evening unfolded, during the speeches Lisa was presented with a cheque for £15,000 from John Angus one of the Trustees from the Mencap Family home which is now known as The Avenue.  As the Mencap Family home business had come to a close there was surplus funds that the Trustees wanted to distribute to help continue the work that they had done. This very generous donation was greatly received and will be put towards the buildings fund.

Our Treasurer Russ Pocock gave an update on how our fundraising for our new premises had been going. We have made great steps financially to achieving our goal; ‘To own a premises that will facilitate our existing projects and be suitable for expansion’. Our restricted fund has now reached £85k; however we still have some way to go in our desire to raise £250k by the end of 2019.

It’s always good to end an evening on a high and this year is no different as the evening was rounded off with some floor filling tunes courtesy of Delboy Entertainments, a regular DJ with Keynsham and District Mencap Society events, always guaranteed to play music to get everyone up dancing.

This event is certainly helps to put us on the map and demonstrates the strength of our supporters and everyone who is involved.

Check out all the photos on our Facebook page

So until the next one!

 

March 29, 2018

A Royal Celebration

So what are you doing on 19th May? Why not join us in  celebrating the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  and come along to our Royal Wedding inspired family fete.

Organised by our very own Student Volunteer Molly Hale and her team of willing volunteers. There will be lots of fun stalls, raffle, cakes, refreshments  BBQ and a prize for the best Royal Wedding Inspired fancy dress costume.  All welcome, you don’t even have to miss the wedding we  will be screening it live at the event.

Please come and support Molly, the fete is on  from 12pm till 4pm on Saturday 19th May at the Scout Hut, Ashton Way Keynsham.

 

April 18, 2018

Jason Preston will go a whole year without shaving. All in the name of charity!

As part of our 40th celebrations Keynsham Mencap Member parent Jason Preston has pledged to go without shaving his beard for a whole year. Jason started his mammoth beard growing activity in February 2018 and will continue for 12 months.  All Jason is asking for is a £1 sponsorship from everyone he knows and meets throughout the year.

Jason’s’ step son Matthew Washbourn is a member of our Go Explore Club and Radstock Juniors Club.  Matty joined us nearly 4 years ago as a member of the Saturday Club and Radstock Juniors Club.

Jason is an avid supporter of our society and a fierce fundraiser.  So far he has taken part in sponsored bike rides from Midsomer Norton to Weston, from Midsomer Norton to Brean, and the Prudential 100 mile bike ride in London, most recently he held a fundraising disco party in February this year.

Look out for Jason as he plans to decorate and embellish his beard throughout the year marking annual celebrations such as Christmas and other themed events.

The images below show a clean shaven Jason and also Jason is pictured here with Matty.

We will keep you posted on Jason’s progress. If you would like to also donate to Jason’s fund raising efforts If you would like to support Jason in his quest please donate via this link. https://localgiving.org/charity/keynshammencap/project/Beard

 

May 23, 2018

A Right Royal Do

So the sun shone, the bride looked beautiful and DJ Barry’s party music played out to the community of Keynsham. Our Royal Wedding fete on the 19th May at the Scout HQ in Keynsham had largely been organised by Student volunteer Molly Hale and her tribe of volunteers,  and it was a great success. So huge thanks to everyone who helped out on the day you really are  the reason these events are so successful.

We raised around £500 on the day with a Raffle, Tombola, Cakes, BBQ, refreshments and lots of fun stalls including face painting and a bouncy castle. 

There were a few new faces among the attendees at our event as we welcomed old and new members we hope to see you  all again at our next event.

We had visits from the police and the fire service and they were able to show our attendees the vehicles and sound the sirens.

It was great to host a popular event that coincided with a national event. We were also able to air the wedding live from a separate room in  the Scout HQ in Keynsham, to ensure everyone good be part of the great event!

Scones, Jam and cream for English cream teas were very kindly donated by Arthur David food wholesalers in Bishop Sutton, Paula from Tesco Brislington  donated a gift card and teddies for the tombola’ The Meat Machine kindly offered us our BBQ food at a reduced rate. Thanks to kind donations like these we are able to raise more money for our fundraising.

Check out our Facebook page for more photos of the day. 

 

July 3, 2018

Happy Birthday to us!

On the afternoon of Saturday 16th June at the Keynsham Rugby Club we had our 40th birthday party.  Over 300 people attended and enjoyed the live music from Daz Rocks 4 charity and Weston-Super-Mare band ‘Better than Expected’. Our very own Music Man Project gave an exclusive live performance, DJ Barry played dance floor favourites to get everyone up dancing.  A fun afternoon with Chuffy the Train rides, bouncy castle and face painting all made for a great afternoon in the sun celebrating our 40th birthday.

Jason Preston was in the firing line in the stocks a great opportunity to see how his beard is growing and to get a soaking.

The rugby club were great host and run the bar and BBQ to keep everyone fed and watered, it was a great way for us to celebrate with everyone who had been involved in the society.

It was wonderful to see so many members, their families, volunteers old and new, founder members and supporters come together to celebrate this milestone in our  Society’s history.

Over 40 years hundreds of children and adults have found friendship, fun and support with us. As we move forward towards our 50th, we will aim to develop increased opportunities and initiatives to promote the wellbeing of those with learning difficulties generally.

With a feisty performance from our Music Man project after only ten sessions, we demonstrated and took pride in the potential that our members with good support can achieve.

Check out our photos on our Facebook page!

 

July 10, 2018

We’re gearing up to get on our bikes!

 

September 19, 2018

 

October 23, 2018

Ceri’s Marathon Month

Well done to deputy club leader Ceri Lloyd for completing her  amazing 4 half marathons in 4 weeks challenge. Ceri had a shaky start to her marathon running; in March this year she was due to run the Bath Half, which was cancelled due to snow. She then decided to raise the bar and run the Bristol Half, Cheltenham Half, and Cardiff Half then finish off with the most challenging of all; The Wales Trail Half Marathon. All of these events took place on consecutive weeks through September and October. After completing the first 3, Ceri was unable to run in the 4th event as it had been cancelled due to flooding.  Not one to be put off easily, Ceri decided to still run the 13.2 mile distance along the Bath/ Bristol cycle path instead. She was accompanied by a friend who cycled along with her in the  pouring rain.  Ceri was raising funds for us and another charity which is close to her heart and raised over £1000 in total, of which a
massive £530 is for us which is amazing. We think Ceri is incredible! Thank you from all at Keynsham Mencap.

 

November 5, 2018

Super Saturday Club Celebrates 10 years

November 16, 2018

Let’s Get Quizzical!

On Saturday 11^th November we held our annual quiz, this time at St Dunstans church hall, 96 people across 19 teams attended on the night and battled for first place to get their hands on the winners hamper.

Trustee Kit Kettel was our quiz master and he did a sterling job keeping the questions flowing and the rowdy crowds under control! The questions were a mix of sport, film, music and royal trivia, something for everyone. We made ‘Keynsham Mencap Quiz’ history that night and made over £900 on the night, it was a record attendance and amount raised.

Our tribe of helpers kept the bar running the tables cleared and the drinks refilled. Huge thanks to Nicola, George, Hazel, Aly, Karen and Braeden.  We had great speeches from Jethro and Andrew, and Steve worked hard to clear the tables. Thanks Guys!

We rely on the support of local businesses and members of the community to donate towards our raffle prizes, this year thanks goes out to Tesco Brislington, Pomegranate Longwell Records Blossom Acupuncture, Lisa O’Brien, Sue Jeffery, The Yendall’s and Helen Duckett frim Keynsham for all their kind donations.

We were really pleased to see lots of members, trustees and staff come along to the quiz bringing their friends and family along. We also welcomed new friends and we hope we will see you again next time.

We are in a time where the charity sector is heavily stretched, the competition growing and additional funding increasingly more difficult to obtain, therefore we find ourselves in even more of a position to rely on our community and our supporters.   We are immensely grateful to those who attend our events, raise money for us, volunteer for us and help in any way they can, you keep us going. For that we thank you.

Christmas is around the corner and there are lots of fun events coming up, if you can spare some time please bake for our cake stall on 30^th November, pop along to our big tea party on 1^st December at the Fear Hall 1-30- 3.30.  Our Music Man Project are performing a special on concert on 7^th December at the Queens Road Methodist church.

We’ve also got a few Xmas cards to sell, please contact the office.

 

December 4, 2018

Molly Hale wins the Keynsham Rotary ‘Young Citizen of the Year’ Award

Well done to our student volunteer Molly Hale who won the Keynsham Rotary ‘Young Citizen of the Year’ Award for 2018/19. Molly was nominated for her volunteering and fundraising activities. A true inspiration to the young people of Keynsham. Molly attended the Keynsham Rotary meeting enjoyed a meal and accepted her award and told the members of the Rotary why she enjoys what she does. Well done Molly.

 

December 4, 2018

Winter Festival and Big Tea Party

Thank you to all who donated tombola items and baked cakes for our stall at the Keynsham Winter festival and our tea party at the Fear Hall. We made £365 at the festival and raised £74 at the tea party.  We also sold Christmas decorations and Christmas cards designed by our members. A great way to start the festive season. Money raised will go towards next year’s activity programmes.

 

February 22, 2019

Jason goes for the big shave!

Volunteer Jason Preston pledged to go without shaving his beard for a whole year. Jason started his mammoth beard growing activity in February 2018 and continued for 12 months.  All Jason asked for was £1 sponsorship from everyone he knows and meets throughout the year.

During this time he has dyed his beard various colours for different events including decorating it at Christmas.

Jason undertook this crazy challenge to raise funds for Radstock Juniors.

After a whole year of not shaving, Jason has had his beard shaved. He was joined by some of the children and young people from our Radstock group who cheered him on.  Special thanks goes to Diamond Scissors barbers in Radstock for staying open late for the big shave off.  Jason raised over £1100 with this hair raising challenge, the money will go a long way to providing new and exciting activities that will broaden the horizons of the members of the club.

Jason is an avid supporter of the society and in particular Radstock Juniors he is a fierce fundraiser, so far he has taken part in sponsored bike rides from Midsomer Norton to Weston, from Midsomer Norton to Brean, and the Prudential 100 mile bike ride in London, most recently he held a fundraising disco party in February last year. Since 2013 Jason has raised over £4600 for the club.

 

March 15, 2019

We raised the roof at our 3rd annual dinner and auction!

On Saturday 9th March we hosted our 3rd Dinner and Auction at the Saltford Golf Club.  The event raised over £6500, and was held in aid of the Society’s ‘Building Appeal’.   This amount helped us to achieve our target of £100k  for the fund.

Chris Bennett and Tim Mawditt from local Blues band The Uncles, were the auctioneers with larger than life personalities and lots of jokes they really engaged with the audience and created a fun and relaxed atmosphere that encouraged some great bidding wars!

Among the auction items; a two day Yacht experience, a visit to the Bath Rugby training facility to meet the players and delicious meals from top local restaurants, all generously donated by local organisations.  Supporters included; Taylor Wimpy, Persimmon Homes, Stockwood Golf Club, B Block, Bath Heritage Museums, Sommer Dining, Watlings of Lacock, The Olive Tree Restaurant, HomeLets in Bath, Gregory’s Estate Agents, Bristol City Community Foundation, Bath Rugby, Eveleigh Estate Agent, Wall to Wall Finance, InspiringU, Small Print, Bath and Wiltshire, Redfern Ostepaths, Bristol Fun for Hire, Balloon Fever and Atlas Packaging in North Devon.

We were delighted to welcome architectural historian Jonathan Foyle as our guest speaker who spoke about his experiences and life as a BBC personality.

Thank you to John Muse from John Muse Photography, he generously gave up his time to take photos of the guests and provided a fun photo booth facility which always goes down well.

There was a great mix of guests; society members, trustees, staff, volunteers and friends of the society, attended and enjoyed excellent service and the sumptuous food laid on by the staff of Haywoods Kitchen.  Corporate guests, included IT specialist’s iTeam Solutions from Saltford and Mailing house Toplink Envelopes Ltd who for the third year running supported the event.

This year volunteer Jason Preston received a certificate of appreciation for his support over the years, so far Jason has raised over £4600 for the society, his latest effort was to go without shaving for a whole year, which raised an amazing £1200. Jason is now organising a 36 mile cycle ride on Sunday 19th May.

It’s always good to end an evening on a high and this year was no different as the evening was rounded off with some floor filling tunes courtesy of Delboy Entertainments, a regular DJ with Keynsham and District Mencap Society events, always guaranteed to play music to get everyone up dancing.  Check out our photos on Facebook

 

March 19, 2019

Amazing day at the Bath Half

Congratulations and thank you to all the runners who took part in the Bath Half on Sunday 17^th March to raise money for the Society. Vince, Anf, Matt, Mark, Corrie, Daniel, Alex, Jo, Samantha, Alice, David, Thomas and Peter ran the 13.1 mile course around Bath in slightly windy conditions but at least it was dry and not too hot. Alice is the mother of a Club25 member and she may be in her 70’s but that didn’t stop her achieving an incredible time of 2hrs 24, all with a huge smile on her face! Vince and Anf ran the course dressed as Batman and Robin, because in their words ‘we’re running dressed as superheroes because we believe that’s exactly what the young people are’. The 13 runners were cheered on from the side lines by family, friends, supporters and music man musicians. So far it looks like the runners have collectively raised over £2,500. What an incredible amount! Thank you to each and every one of you; hope there weren’t too many blisters or sore muscles the next day. If you’ve been inspired by these amazing runners and want to join Team Mencap for 2020, the Bath Half registration is open now! Please contact  Amanda in the office for more details.

 

July 26, 2019

A great Learning Disability Week 2019

Between 15^th and 23^rd June it was Learning Disability week. And we started of the week with our family festival.  The wet weather didn’t dampen our spirits as in true Keynsham Mencap and Great British tradition we braved the rain at the Keynsham Rugby Club.  Our supporters were out in force and made it along to hear covers band ‘Hair of the Dog’s amazing set, bringing the atmosphere up and lightening the mood which attempted to chase the clouds away.  Chuffy the train took our festival goers up and down the field and SENsations deputy Hazel kept a watchful eye on the bouncy castle whilst standing under an umbrella.  The Music Man Project sang some of their favourite songs from their Royal Albert Hall performance, and it was the newer members first public performance.  Luckily we had some indoor space so the bar, raffle, tombola, face paints and cake sale kept everyone entertained.  DJ Barry brought along his new DJ equipment with lights, smoke machine and bubble machine and kept the party going inside once it got too wet and dangerous for the band to continue. Thank you to all who got a bit soggy in support of our cause despite the rain we still raised over £800 before we took out our costs.

We then enjoyed a trip to Millfield School for their annual Mencap Fun Day. Groups from all over the South West and beyond travelled  to the school for the day where a whole range of activities are put on for people with learning disabilities.  There is something for everyone with live music dancing, sports, climbing wall, face painting, cooking and crafts. It’s always a popular day and well attended by Keynsham members.
And so we ended learning disability week with a 5 a side football tournament held at Sir Bernard Lovell Sports facility on Sunday 23^rd June. 9 teams from the community including our 3 Keynsham Mencap FC teams took to the pitch to battle it out for top place. We had a BBQ and small raffle where we had some amazing prizes donated by a London agency called DINK. These included tickets to a premier league game and a signed jersey.  The Old Bank pub in Keynsham have been really generous and they have sponsored our team kit, so now our players also play in green as well as red and blue. The players also have a new training top each.  Thank you for all the supporters who enjoyed the day of football fun and to the staff of Sir Bernard Lovell.  The final score on the day saw the coaches win the tournament.  Well done everyone, the day was a huge success and we raised just over £400.

 

September 24, 2019

Sponsored cycle ride and walk.

On Sunday 22^nd September we took to the Bristol to Bath Cycle path for our annual sponsored event.

Finishing at the Bird in Hand pub; 50 participants either cycled, scooted or walked to Avon Valley Railway Station at Bitton; or went as far as Bath and back for a longer distance.  Well done to everyone who took part, it’s a great achievement to complete the event and thank you for the sponsorship.

Thank you to Niall, Andrew and Paul for helping on the day, it went smoothly, and this year despite the soggy start to the event we welcomed some new participants.

The rain stopped in time for us to eat our lunch; sausage and chips kindly provided by Colin and his staff at the Bird in Hand pub.

This is always a popular event for our members, friends and families, all we ask is that you come enjoy the morning when you meet up with friends. We encourage our participants to set their own goals and do what they feel they can comfortably do.

We will let you know how much we raised once the final total is in.

Keep a look out for our next event… the annual Quiz which is on Saturday 12^th October at the Fear Hall.  Tickets £7 each and include entry into the raffle. This is always a fun night, there will be a bar snacks and raffle.

 

October 16, 2019

Our Music Man Project performed in the park

Our musicians performed on the band stand at the Keynsham Memorial park on Sunday 8th September. It was a sunny day and there was an audience of over 120 people. Dog walkers and Sunday afternoon walkers stopped to listen and we had some audience participation at the end. We raised £250 through bucket collections which was an amazing result.

 

October 16, 2019

We got Quizzical 

Our annual quiz was held on Saturday 12^th October at the Fear Hall, 70 keen quizzers enjoyed some healthy competition and answered questions on a variety of subjects that ranged from sport and history to songs from our favourite Disney films! Thank you Lucy Jefferies (Laura’s sister) who took on the challenge and did an amazing job as quiz master.  We hope you come back next year Lucy. Thank you also goes out to Aly, Hazel and Nicola, for running the bar William and Sarah for helping with the preparations. Barry and Suzy with the raffle and the door collection.  Donations from Tesco Keynsham and Brislington, Waitrose, Sue Jeffery, Nick Leonard and Keynsham Leisure Centre made sure our raffle had some great prizes.  We managed sell all 100 squares on the 100s club.  Team Quiz-Quiztopherson were overall winners for the 2^nd time running, who will challenge them next year as they attempt to win for a 3^rd year running!  It’s a team effort, whether you’re attending the quiz or assisting on the night all the help and support enabled us to raise just over £700 profit. So massive thank you to all who came along to one of our popular fun events.