INTRODUCTION

“Every day is a party with DSO” so as we prepare for our festive gathering (some of you may
recall our first raucous affair in December 2019). We do hope that as many of you as
possible will come and join us this year.
As Trustees, we wanted to not only remind you that you are invited to join us on a weekly
basis but also thought you might be interested in how we have both survived the latest
Lockdown restrictions phase and how we see DSO developing in the New Year.

NEWS FROM THE TRUSTEES
We cannot deny that we have been challenged by the restrictions faced by the Care sector
especially as we all wait for Care Homes to be able to make offsite visits and to welcome
visiting groups. The understandable reluctance of some to visit us in person similarly tests
our resolve, however, we continue to feel blessed to not only run our weekly sessions but
also to continue to benefit from loyal supporters and advocates of DSO. We promised you in
our previous newsletter that we would not be defeated and we have been resolute even
when faced with Care Homes being confined to their own base. Zoom has been the source
of much comedy from many quarters but it has enabled us to continue to bring some weekly
joy to many.

Although much of our engagement has been with Care Homes we have been humbled by
the fact that, recently, a number of families have joined us where a family member is living
with dementia and still living at home; we all need to be reminded that carers themselves
benefit from the camaraderie and support of the DSO network so this development has
been uplifting on a number of levels.

Thursday mornings have moved to a new phase with the interaction between those
participating remotely & those of us whose ‘live’ dance moves and backing vocals, provide
comedy moments aplenty; some of these are now being caught on camera (we hope that
you have not missed the loose choreography of the Morecombe & Wise dance routines) nor
Gareth’s evolving subtle advance prompts to alert his helpers (the “songsheet monitors”)
allowing them invaluable seconds to leap around, shuffle and deliver their colour coded
lyrics!

We are delighted to report that we will continue with our Wellingborough venue, the
Everyday Champion’s Centre in Havelock Street where we have met weekly since our DSO
inception in July 2019. We have a superb relationship with the supportive Mica & Sam who
run the Centre and who are working tirelessly to develop the facility as a community hub,
work space and coffee shop. The venue has provided us with essential space for car parking,
wheelchair access, space for socialising and capacity for us to throw our shapes as well as
supporting the level of technology which Gareth requires to broadcast sessions literally
across the globe.

We are looking forward to being beneficiaries from the decision by the incoming Ladies’
Captain at Wellingborough Golf Club, Sheena Markham, to support DSO as a dedicated
charity for her fundraising efforts throughout her Captaincy year.
We continue to benefit from the moral and practical support of our sister choir the highly
successful Wellingborough Community Gospel Choir, many of whose members support us in
our weekly sessions.

And finally! Most importantly for an organisation which prioritises fun, the arrangements
for this year’s DSO Christmas Party are: THURSDAY 16TH DECEMBER at 10.30 am. Everyone is
invited (as long as they are sporting festive gear). For obvious reasons it will not be on the
usual Christmas Party scale but we will sing Festive carols, Christmas songs from the 1950s,
60s, and especially the 1980s. There will be coffee, homemade mince pies and sausage rolls
afterwards. We have a professional camera man coming to film us all singing and we will
share the link on Thursday 23rd December at 10.30am to relive it all together. It will then be
available to view on our website as many times as you like!!

Cathie, Judith, Kathryn, Ian, Lucy, Ruth, Garry & Gareth.