The Goldies Charity now reaches out to brighten the lives
of 1000's of older isolated people across England and Wales.
The Golden-Oldies Charity, more fondly referred to as ‘Goldies’, was founded by Bath-based musician Grenville Jones in 2007. For many years Grenville had built a reputation as one of the UK’s foremost choir leaders and had learnt first-hand of the positive social effects of singing in a choir or a music group.
“I wanted to grab the atmosphere of fun and friendship and bring it to older isolated people through daytime ‘singalongs’ of the memory-evoking hits of the 60s and onwards.”
Grenville himself took the first four sessions in and around Bath and Bristol in 2008 and is always quick to point out that his Charity is NOT about choir singing.
“Goldies gives older isolated people something to look forward to, a chance to get out, make new friends and singalong to those popular hits of the past.”
From small beginnings, and with Sir Cliff Richard as Patron, the work of the Charity has grown across England and Wales (Goldies Cymru) and, prior to Lockdown, in March 2020 there were over 200 daytime fun singalong Goldies sessions. These sessions took place in Libraries, community rooms and Church halls and were led by dedicated session leaders from various backgrounds, all with one thing in common – they shared the common view that singing together made you feel better and always brought a smile!
Those attending the sessions were older people living in community housing, adults with learning difficulties and people living with dementia – everyone is welcome at a Goldies session.
Over the years the Charity has received considerable support from many philanthropic Trusts, Local Authorities, Organisations and the National Lottery in both England and Wales. There has also been considerable media coverage of Goldies over the years and, most recently, the popular ITV soap Emmerdale featured Goldies during its commercial breaks. This was made possible with the support of the People’s Postcode Lottery Community Fund.
Academic studies have also endorsed the benefits that the Golden-Oldies Charity brings to older people – these can be accessed through the website.
Goldies has also worked with Primary Schools in recent years with support from the Lottery Heritage Fund and in 2018 received the accolade of winning the Education Category of the National Lottery Awards – a project based on the music of the First World War! the award being presented to Grenville by Katherine Jenkins.
Forced by Covid to close all sessions, Goldies looked to the internet, Facebook and YouTube to bring its fun sessions to people in their homes. Popular Wales-based leaders Rachel Parry and Cheryl Davies lead the twice-weekly sessions under the www.goldieslive.com banner, with people joining from their homes across the United Kingdom. As the country emerges from Lockdown plans are in place to reintroduce the Goldies sessions that were forced to close and also to introduce more sessions in both England and Wales. This will be in partnership with the many organisations and community groups with whom a close working relationship has been forged in recent years.
Those living in the Bath and Bristol area will know that Goldies has a Charity Shop in the town of Keynsham which opened four years ago.
Future plans include a second Charity Shop in Cardiff and the introduction of the work of the Charity with older people in Scotland. The Golden-Oldies Charity is not one that stands still!
of 1000's of older isolated people across England and Wales.
The Golden-Oldies Charity, more fondly referred to as ‘Goldies’, was founded by Bath-based musician Grenville Jones in 2007. For many years Grenville had built a reputation as one of the UK’s foremost choir leaders and had learnt first-hand of the positive social effects of singing in a choir or a music group.
“I wanted to grab the atmosphere of fun and friendship and bring it to older isolated people through daytime ‘singalongs’ of the memory-evoking hits of the 60s and onwards.”
Grenville himself took the first four sessions in and around Bath and Bristol in 2008 and is always quick to point out that his Charity is NOT about choir singing.
“Goldies gives older isolated people something to look forward to, a chance to get out, make new friends and singalong to those popular hits of the past.”
From small beginnings, and with Sir Cliff Richard as Patron, the work of the Charity has grown across England and Wales (Goldies Cymru) and, prior to Lockdown, in March 2020 there were over 200 daytime fun singalong Goldies sessions. These sessions took place in Libraries, community rooms and Church halls and were led by dedicated session leaders from various backgrounds, all with one thing in common – they shared the common view that singing together made you feel better and always brought a smile!
Those attending the sessions were older people living in community housing, adults with learning difficulties and people living with dementia – everyone is welcome at a Goldies session.
Over the years the Charity has received considerable support from many philanthropic Trusts, Local Authorities, Organisations and the National Lottery in both England and Wales. There has also been considerable media coverage of Goldies over the years and, most recently, the popular ITV soap Emmerdale featured Goldies during its commercial breaks. This was made possible with the support of the People’s Postcode Lottery Community Fund.
Academic studies have also endorsed the benefits that the Golden-Oldies Charity brings to older people – these can be accessed through the website.
Goldies has also worked with Primary Schools in recent years with support from the Lottery Heritage Fund and in 2018 received the accolade of winning the Education Category of the National Lottery Awards – a project based on the music of the First World War! the award being presented to Grenville by Katherine Jenkins.
Forced by Covid to close all sessions, Goldies looked to the internet, Facebook and YouTube to bring its fun sessions to people in their homes. Popular Wales-based leaders Rachel Parry and Cheryl Davies lead the twice-weekly sessions under the www.goldieslive.com banner, with people joining from their homes across the United Kingdom. As the country emerges from Lockdown plans are in place to reintroduce the Goldies sessions that were forced to close and also to introduce more sessions in both England and Wales. This will be in partnership with the many organisations and community groups with whom a close working relationship has been forged in recent years.
Those living in the Bath and Bristol area will know that Goldies has a Charity Shop in the town of Keynsham which opened four years ago.
Future plans include a second Charity Shop in Cardiff and the introduction of the work of the Charity with older people in Scotland. The Golden-Oldies Charity is not one that stands still!
Monthly sessions now take place across England and Wales ( Goldies Cymru ) and there are now over 60 brilliant freelance session leaders – and we always want to hear from new people who would like to be Session Leaders.
If you would like to help us to reach out to older people in your community or become a Goldies session leader, please contact [email protected]
If you would like to help us to reach out to older people in your community or become a Goldies session leader, please contact [email protected]
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‘Goldies’ launches its 200th session in a Pub!
On Wednesday March 4 2020 – the Golden-Oldies Charity launched at its 200th venue with a Sing&Smile FUN session in a community PUB. The special guest was local resident Briony Williams from The Great British Bake Off – and her gran. Over 100 people who attend Goldies sessions across Bristol and South Wales attended. Since the charity started in 2008, there have been over 15,000 fun daytime sing and smile sessions. Briony brought a special 200 birthday cake for Goldies - See our picture left. You can also watch a lovely video taken at the event by clicking HERE. To read the full story click HERE. |
WHY START A CHARITY CALLED GOLDEN-OLDIES?
The Channel Four programme Young@Heart and the BBC2 Television programme The Zimmers in 2007 highlighted social issues and loneliness facing older people. More importantly, these two programmes showed how singing “popular“ music can take people back to happy times and bring joy and friendship to their lives.
Those progammes were the inspiration to Goldies founder and choir leader Grenville Jones who lives in the West Country City of Bath.
In the UK there are millions of people who are living in isolation and missing out on regular contact with their family and friends. Getting together, making friends and having fun are the basis of this Charity and its simple ethos - to give people events they can look forward to.
The Golden-Oldies Charity is based on the well documented fact that singing is good for you, it encourages good breathing and brightens up your day and gives you a chance to meet other people. It puts a SMILE on your face! We were delighted the announce in March 2011 that Sir Cliff Richard had agreed to be our Patron.
'The ethos of this Charity is very simple - it is to give people something to look forward to, a REASON to get out of their homes and be with others. This can be the monthly singing session in a sheltered housing community room or in a local church or community hall . It could be a trip to the local school as part of the Time after Time project, a concert or a visit to meet and sing with another Goldies session. Our picture at the bottom of this page shows part of the audience of Goldies who attended one of our BIG SING's at Writhlington School near Bath in 2012.
"Singing should be on prescription," says our founder Grenville Jones.
The songs are carefully chosen and based on the well known sing-along his of the 50s 60s & 70s. They encourage people to clap in rhythm to the music, tap their feet, smile and more often that not ... get up and dance!
Bring me Sunshine – Summer Holiday – Magic Moments – Downtown - Hi Ho Silver Lining and many more.
If you are reading this from elsewhere in the UK and are wondering how Golden-Oldies can be introduced in your area then we would like to hear from you. Please email Emma and we will get back to you as soon as we can. We are only a small team but we are growing thanks to the support from many Trusts and commercial sponsors.
If you would like to help with your work - please e-mail [email protected]
Company Number: 6369123 - Charity Registration Number: 1121600