APRIL NEWSLETTER

Welcome to this month’s round robin filled with all our latest news and the dates and times of all our April Jolly Days. We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Kate Sheridan and The Friendly Food Club for doing such a splendid job over the winter with our meal delivery service.

Our Jolly Film

We are delighted that our new film shot for us by Gary Jarman from Pageant Film Productions, is now on our website for you to enjoy. Gary visited several of our Jolly Days, and our Step Outside Gardening Group to interview guests and staff in order for the film to capture everything that makes the Jollies so wonderful. We hope you love it as much as we do!

What’s on in April

Please note that due to Easter and Bank Holidays we only have one Jolly St Giles this month

Wimborne St Giles

Wimborne St Giles Village Hall, BH21 5LX
(12 pm - 4 pm)

Monday 7th
Fabulous Friendly Food Club lunch of chicken korma lunch followed by music with Kate and yoga with Suzanne

Shaftesbury

Royal British Legion, Coppice Street, SP7 8PF
(10 am - 12 pm)

Tuesday 1st
Music with Peter and Noel

Tuesday 15th
We welcome back ‘Bit of a Tonic’ aka Colin and Clara

Tuesday 29th
We’re excited to announce the return of Paula Fleming

Wimborne

Museum of East Dorset, 23-29 High Street, BH21 1HR
(2 - 4 pm)

Thursday 3rd
Yoga with Suzanne, plus poetry and more

Thursday 17th
Visit from Millstream Theatre and Tony Horitz

Blandford

Woodhouse Gardens, DT11 7DN
(2 - 4 pm)

Monday 14th
Music with Paula Fleming

Monday 28th
Music with Clara and Colin, aka ‘Bit of a Tonic’

West Moors

The Guide Hall, 24 Ashurst Road, BH22 0LS
(2 - 4 pm)

Wednesday 9th
Music with Clara and Colin, aka ‘Bit of a Tonic’

Wednesday 23rd
Indoor sports day with Shirley, plus yoga with Suzanne

Step Outside Garden Group

Kingston Lacy Allotments, BH21 4EG
(2 - 4 pm)

Friday 11th and 25th
Join us at our ‘Step Outside’ allotments for gardening (optional), chats, laughter, tea and biscuits. Please book in with Anni or Sarah.

Flash, bang wallop, what a picture!

Our Jolly guests are being given the chance to try their hand at being pro photographers and models with help from our very own Max who is a professional photographer herself and taught the subject for many years. The photo of Edna was taken by Mike, and the one of Diane and Gwen was taken by Kate. We are in discussion about a possible touring exhibition – but more news on this later…

Sarah’s Jolly Podcast

A while ago our founder and manager Sarah Rampton recorded an episode of The Family Carer Podcast with Bluebird Care West Dorset and it’s now live! Sarah talks about the impact that loneliness and isolation can have on people's physical and mental well-being and how creative activities can help alleviate some of the issues. She also discusses the benefits on the well-being of the family carer.

The whole Jolly Crew would all like to thank Ferndown and Parley Rotary who have covered the cost of shiny and safe new tools for us to use up at the plots. Donations like this make an enormous difference to us and the people we support.

Waitrose in Wimborne are also playing their part with a generous donation of £1000. We hope to use it to buy a polytunnel for our guests to enjoy growing things in, sheltering from the weather and creative activities up at our allotment plots.

Running for the Jollies

Luke Ballard, a keen local long-distance runner, is very kindly raising money for the Jollies by taking on two of his toughest challenges to date.

Luke, reached out to us because we are a very local dementia friendly charity, and with his family experience of dementia, he can see the value of what our Jolly Days offer people. He wants to raise money to help us keep our Jolly services going. A keen long-distance runner, he is bravely raising money for us by taking on two of his toughest challenges to date. Please click the button below to find out more and to sponsor Luke. If you would like to donate but prefer not to do so online please do get in touch with me.

The Mexico Mission

On May 19th we have the much-anticipated return of Brave Bold Drama and their new show ‘The Mexico Mission’ at our St Giles Jolly Day. Our guests will be served a very special picnic lunch, and we are inviting the Wimborne St Giles First School children to come and enjoy the afternoon with us.

Do you know a business that’s looking for a charity to donate to?

If any of our readers work for a company or organisation that likes to give to charity – please consider In Jolly Good Company – all our funds go directly to improving the lives of the people we support. 

We are reliant on the voluntary donations of our guests – but these have been badly affected by the increase in the cost of living. We are a registered charity and we constantly need to raise funds to subsidise our Jolly Days. It currently costs us £50 per guest for a Jolly Day and £70 per head when lunch is supplied.

We are so grateful to The National Lottery for our funding as well as all our other funders – but this does not cover the whole cost of running our vital service.