PRESS RELEASE
 
Thursday 27th February 2020
 
‘Goldies’ …. In a PUB!
 
INVITATION - to session 200 at The Gloucester Old Spot PUB, 138-140 Kellaway Avenue, Horfield, Bristol BS6 7YQ from 11.00am until 12.30pm NEXT Wednesday March 4. Please come along and meet many of the older people who have attended ‘Goldies’ sessions across the area and hear from them how Goldies brightens their lives!
 

​Want to know more? … contact Grenville on 07778 282934        jonesgrenville@aol.com
 
Next Wednesday – March 4 – the Golden-Oldies Charity will launch its 200th Sing&Smile FUN session in a community PUB.
 
Goldies has developed its work over the past 12 years across South West England, South Wales, the Midlands, Yorkshire, Essex and most recently in East London. The sessions are enjoyed by thousands of older people. Sir Cliff Richard is the Patron.
 
Special guest will be local resident Briony Williams from The Great British Bake Off – and her gran! Briony is bringing a celebration birthday cake for Goldies.
 
Session venues include community rooms, church halls, day centres, memory cafes, Libraries and now FOR THE FIRST TIME there’s Goldies in a pub at The Gloucester Old Spot, Kellaway Avenue, Horfield in Bristol.
 
The Gloucester Old Spot has established a reputation locally as a friendly community pub and owner Amy Devenish contacted Goldies about hosting a regular session.
 
Goldies sessions reach out to all cultures and founder Grenville Jones is always keen to underline the fact that Goldies is NOT about choir singing. The songs are the memory evoking popular tunes of the 60s onwards and chosen by the folk who attend across Wales and England.
  
As the charity has grown, sessions have been added that particularly address the issue of people living with Dementia and their Carers. There are also many sessions across England and Wales specifically for Adults with Learning Difficulties. It is estimated that over 4,000 people attend Goldies each month. 
  
Under the heading Goldies Cymru sessions have developed year on year across South Wales supported by the brilliant Moondance Foundation and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Wales. Song books are produced in Welsh and there is a Welsh Language website goldiescymru.org.uk
  
The Goldies website is www.golden-oldies.org.uk
 
ENDS
 
ALL enquiries to Grenville on 07778 282934.
 
Pictures show a Goldies SING&SMILE session and the PUB sign.
 

​PRESS RELEASE
 
Monday 24 February 2020
 
SING&SMILE with the ‘Goldies’ Charity
 
A charity that puts smiles on the faces of older isolated people is launching at the Kirkgate Centre in mid-March with its FUN daytime Sing&Smile sessions on Monday March 9. 
 
The Golden-Oldies Charity, more fondly known simply as ‘Goldies’, started in the West of England 12 years ago. The founder is Grenville Jones who is well known nationally as a choir leader who has appeared on radio and television many times. Grenville however is always anxious to point out that his charity is NOT about choir singing!
 
Grenville will take the session himself at the Kirkgate Centre. He’s a man with local connections as his late parents both grew up in Bradford ‘moving south’ in the 1940s. Grenville said;
 
“From just four sessions back in 2008 we now have over 200 across England and Wales. 
 
“The session at the Kirkgate Centre will be from 10.30am to 11.30am and I warmly invite everyone to come along and discover the fun in a Sing&Smile Goldies session. I guarantee you will leave with a smile on your face! Please come and discover Goldies.”
 
The sessions are based on the memory-evoking songs of the 60s onwards and the charity Patron is Sir Cliff Richard. To find out more you can visit the charity website www.golden-oldies.org.uk or go along to the Kirkgate Centre, 39a Kirkgate, Shipley BD18 3EH on Monday March 9, everyone is welcome.
 
ENDS
 
Caption : Songs and Smiles with ‘Goldies’.
 
Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.
 
 

 
Elderly care provider, Elder spoke to Grenville Jones, choirmaster of Golden Oldies. When he set up the first Golden Oldies in 2007, he had no idea that his singing groups for older people would take off so successfully. With over 200 regular sessions now held across the UK, “Goldies” as it’s known, provides a sociable and relaxed place for singers and non-singers to meet and enjoy themselves. We talked to Grenville about the positive power of making music together at any level.
 
How did you come to set up Goldies?
My background is as a choir leader and I've taken evening choirs for a long time - one of my choirs is the Bath Male Choir, which got to the finals of the BBC’s Last Choir Standing.
 
In 2007 I watched a Channel Four programme called Young at Heart, which featured an American choir for older people. It was very moving and I remember one part where the choir went to a prison and sang to some pretty serious criminals who were crying as they listened.
 
 
“There’s a reluctance to step across the doorstep and a temptation to just put the television on. We’re giving people the opportunity to be sociable – with a good old-fashioned sing-along”
 
 
Not long after, I was talking to a friend and renowned choir leader about singing and we were discussing the best part of a rehearsal. We both agreed that it was the atmosphere at the end, when everyone is packing up to go home. People are usually laughing and having fun at this point in the atmosphere that comes from making music together. 
 
It occurred to me there was an opportunity to take that atmosphere and drop it into community rooms and church halls and other places where people meet during the week, so I decided to start a charity.
 
We had support from Bath Housing Association for the first four sessions, which I took myself. Two ladies who lived in sheltered housing nearby turned up to one of the first - and probably only came because they had nothing else to do.
 
A friend asked me how it went, and I said, “I think it went well, but I'm not sure people will come and if they do then who is going to take all the sessions? How could it go forward and succeed and develop? And my friend said,” If you have faith in it, it will work.” I remember that clearly. Now, years later, we run over 200 regular sessions across England and Wales and have 67 session leaders.
 
What is the aim of Goldies?
There are so many older people who live isolated lives and have so little to look forward to in society today. I believe that governments do, generally speaking, care for older people in their homes reasonably well, but there are no social activities anymore. It’s left for people like me and other wonderful organisations to fill that gap.
 
There’s a reluctance to step across the doorstep and a temptation to just put the television on – and figures show that 51 percent of people say the only company they have is the TV on a daily basis. We’re trying to give people the opportunity to be sociable – with a good old-fashioned sing-along.
 
 
Who is the typical Goldie?
If you had asked me all those years ago to describe the “typical Goldie” I would probably have said, ‘likely to be an elderly lady, now widowed, who doesn’t have many opportunities to get out and be with other people.”
 
Of course, that has changed as we have grown - now it's also those in early stage dementia who come to special memory sessions with our memory books, or adults with learning difficulties who come to sing, as well as our traditional attendees. A young lady with depression has joined one of our sessions in Wales because the folk there are so full of fun. It's the highlight of her week - and she's got 50 aunties and uncles who care for her and look forward to seeing her every week.
 
And of course, we also have a schools intergenerational programme now– for which we won the National Lottery Education award last year - a major achievement for a small charity. In the beginning I would never would have thought that we'd have reached out to people with those sort of issues - but Goldies is for everyone.
 
Why do you not consider Goldies to be a choir?
I always say that Goldies is not a choir – because you don't have to be a singer to come to a session. It’s a bit like going to your pub and joining in when someone starts playing songs on the piano, and we base sessions on the music of the 60s and 70s - which takes people back to happier times and brings them joy.
 
I led a session years ago in Swindon where we were singing The Wonder of You by Elvis. A couple was sitting in the corner and the husband was obviously in the early stages of dementia and had no light in his eyes. When we started singing though, the light came on again all of a sudden - and I saw him singing to her and her singing to him.
 
At the end of the song he wrapped his arms around her, and they had a huge kiss – for them was a magical moment. A few months later he passed on and the family got in touch to say that when the wife came home from that session, she had told her family about how he had come alive to this song.
 
Perhaps that was one of his favourite songs or perhaps he was an Elvis fan? I can't explain that really - but that song reached through all the fog and brought him back to life – and I can explain the privilege of being able to make that happen. The power of singing is well documented now – and we're not the only organisation to help people with isolation through music. But I think we are fairly unique in the way that we deliver our sessions which are open to everyone.
 
How do the sessions work?
The sessions are monthly, and can be held in a community room or other gathering place. People sit round tables or in circles - every session has its own way of doing things.
 
The session leader hands out the song books, which we have as a deliberate policy because reading the songs from the book exercises the brain. We ask the people who come to choose the songs for our song books every year and suggest songs that they'd like to sing. The session leader will then ask the group what they fancy starting off with, and some might say Hi Ho Silver Lining or a bit of Tom Jones.
 
“Goldies is not a choir – because you don't have to be a singer to join in. It’s a bit like going to your pub and joining in when someone starts playing songs on the piano…”
 
Then those who love to sing will sing, and others not - but after about thirty minutes someone will ask for Dancing Queen or another lively song and some people will start to dance. By the end of 60 minutes the room is buzzing, full of laughter and joking and everyone always leaves the session with a smile on their face.
 
How do you find volunteers to lead the sessions?
Generally, session leaders find us - I don't know how that happens. Personally, I think it's a bit of divine intervention.
 
You need to be fairly extrovert to be a session leader -  not everyone can stand up in front of a group of people. And we have session leaders who are singers and sing in a gospel choir community choir for example, but also people who aren’t singers and just care a lot about what we do.
 
When we start a new session, we might put an advertisement in the local paper to say we're looking for session leaders which sometimes gets a response. More often than not though, the session leaders come to us because they may have bought their mum or dad to a session, or perhaps seen Goldies at a local school.
 
Cliff Richard is your patron - did you know him beforehand?
I knew from the outset of the charity that he was the person I would want, because of what he stands for in his outlook and his beliefs and because he'd witnessed dementia first-hand with members of his own family. So, I wrote to him a few times and eventually had a message back to say he had agreed to be our patron.
 
I met him a few years ago when he was doing a show up in the Midlands. I took a group of Goldies with me and we went backstage, where he came and chatted to them - and then let us watch the band’s warm up on the stage, which was great.
 
How would you like Goldies to develop in the next few years?
London is our big challenge. I always knew that one day taking Goldies into the capital would come as a request. But to do that wouldn’t be about setting up five sessions, or 50 –it is more like 150 sessions and I only have one full time member of staff.
 
North Wales is another area we want to develop into, and we've had a huge amount of lottery support there. And generally, across the UK I’d like the 200 sessions to be 500…and why shouldn’t they be? If we have 67 session leaders now, then why not 200? I believe in life that if you want something you have to work hard to make it happen and persevere…
 
This article first appeared on Elder, a solution providing an alternative to residential care home by providing access to first rate live-in care, elderly care and dementia care. You can read more interviews from Elder’s Magazine here.
 
//ENDS//
 
 

PRESS RELEASE
Thursday 16 May 2019
 
More Songs – More Smiles
 
“I don’t know what I would do without Goldies. It keeps me going, it really does.”
 
That’s just one of the 100s of comments from one elderly lady who loves attending her Goldies sing-along session. 
 
NOT a choir, the Golden-Oldies Charity, now in its twelfth year, reaches out to older isolated people across England and Wales. From the initial four sessions taken by founder Grenville Jones, in and around Bath, there are now over 60 dedicated session leaders and, by the end of 2019, there will be at least 200 regular FUN daytime Goldies sessions.
 
With the support of many Trusts, Foundations and local supporters many new sessions will be added in the months ahead.
 
In Swindon, with the support of the Borough Council, there are a number of regular sessions and a new monthly group tuned-up on Thursday May 16 at the Toothill Community Centre in Swindon. On that same day another new session started in Bath at the Salvation Army coffee shop in Green Park. 
 
Across the South West; new leader Becky takes over Calne Goldies group and will soon launch two new Wiltshire sessions. In Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire four new groups will start next month.
 
Additional sessions are being held with the Clevedon Happy Companions Club in North Somerset and Chard Library in South Somerset.
 
In Bath & North East Somerset a Memory Café in Bath was recently started at St Michael’s Church in the City Centre. There are also two new sessions at Church Court, Midsomer Norton and Kingfisher Lodge Care Centre in Saltford.
 
In Bristol a Goldies Day took place in April with over 100 people at St George, Bristol. Still in Bristol, two introductory sessions are planned for May and June at Stoke Bishop. Sessions are also planned for Bedminster and Patchway to raise the profile of the charity across the City. 
 
A recent academic study of the work of the Golden-Oldies charity concluded;
 
“Goldies is very important in bringing isolated people in the community together, especially those who live on their own. By attending a session 93% of participants said they feel more involved in knowing their community.” 
 
Heading South, in Devon Goldies is supported by Exeter City Council and the Darlington Charitable Trust, with plans for many additional sessions in the coming months working in partnership with Age Concern.
 
Goldies recently expanded into Cornwall where sessions now take place at eight Memory Cafes. More are planned by the close of 2019.
 
In Yorkshire more daytime singing is planned with a recent new addition in Eldwick and more to follow. 
 
Goldies sessions have been taking place in the Midlands for the last five years. With special thanks to Doveridge PCC Goldies continues to develop across Staffordshire and Derbyshire with a new session launched recently in Rugeley.
 
With the support of The Mercers’ Company, Essex County Council and the Essex Community Foundation the Goldies Charity is developing its work across North East London and the county of Essex. New sessions in Clacton, Harlow, Chelmsford, Rayleigh, Dunmow, Tiptree, Maldon, Canvey Island, Hawkwell and Southend will tune-up soon.
 
IN WALES…
 
Goldies Cymru was launched by Grenville Jones seven years ago, it has made tremendous progress with the support of the Cardiff-based Moondance Foundation and with major grants from the Wales National Lottery Community Fund and Wales Heritage Fund.
 
By the end of 2019 there will be 70 sessions across South Wales with plans to extend and introduce more sessions in North Wales in 2020. There are 18 dedicated session leaders in Wales.
 
Recent new sessions in Wales include Cowbridge, Newcastle Emlyn, Swansea Central Library, Porthcawl, Llanishen Hub - Cardiff and Lampeter. We have recently started working with LLandough Hospital in The Vale of Glamorgan on the Elderley Persons Ward as well as The Dementia Unit.
 
A new popular Bollywood session in Cardiff has started. Goldies Cymru has close links with the Stroke Association and the National Institute for the Blind and brings Songs and Smiles to increasing numbers of community Libraries.
 
Goldies also has an award-winning primary schools intergenerational programme. It won the Education Category of the National Lottery Awards in 2018, an amazing achievement for a small charity. Later this year Goldies will launch its new primary schools heritage project called, ‘Back to School’.
 
“As we have developed over the years our growth has included sessions for adults with learning difficulties as well as addressing the memory-evoking importance of music and singing to those who are living with Dementia.
 
“We owe a huge vote of thanks to all those organisations who have financially supported our journey and look forward to hitting the 300 Goldies session target by the end of 2020,” said Founder Grenville Jones.
 
ENDS
 
Photo Caption : Reaching out to older people with Songs & Smiles – Goldies.
 
Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.
www.golden-oldies.org.uk
 

PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday May 1, 2019
 
Meet Noodle the Goldies Labradoodle!
 
A very special 10th birthday will be celebrated in Swindon on Thursday May 16. The Golden-Oldies Charity, more fondly known as ‘Goldies’, started in the Town 10 years ago.
 
Venue is Toothill Community Centre, Village Centre, Swindon SN5 8DH from 10.30am-12.00pm.
 
Goldies is all about fun daytime Songs & Smiles for older people, many who may live in isolation. Based on the popular memory-evoking songs of the 50s and onwards, Goldies sessions have grown across Swindon in the past 10 years supported by Swindon Borough Council.
 
Many are led by Alison Dawn, a well-known local singer whose devotion to the charity has paid a great part to its progress. Alison has a very supportive helper – her Labradoodle called Noodle – who the folk attending all the sessions love to see when he arrives with Alison to take each session.
 
Apart from daytime weekly sessions in sheltered housing community rooms there is also a monthly sing at Coleview Community Centre on the first Thursday of each month from 10.30am-11.30am. The new monthly session will be at the Toothill Community Centre on the third Thursday of each month from 10.30am-11.30am.
 
Grenville Jones is the founder of the Goldies Charity, born and bred in Swindon himself he has taken the charity on its exciting journey to the point where today it runs nearly 200 Sing & Smile sessions across England and Wales as well as an award-winning schools intergenerational programme. He is a regular face on TV, most recently as one of the ‘100’ judges on the BBC Saturday night ‘All Together Now’ series.
 
There will be over 190 Sing & Smile sessions across England and Wales by the end of 2019.
 
Grenville says;
 
“Alison is one of our brilliant session leaders. The folk attending the session simply love to go along and they always make a fuss of Noodle who has become very much part of our Swindon Goldies team – yes he’s a definitely a Goldies Labradoodle!”
 
Alison added;
 
“Our sessions give the folk something to look forward to, a week can be a very long time in a lonely life. By bringing everyone together regularly friendships & bonds are strong, this is so important for older folk. The opportunities to make friends & enjoy  company lessen with age.
 
“Many things we take for granted as younger able people. If you imagine for a moment all the daily opportunities we have to socialise being gone, you will realise how extremely important our sessions are to our Swindon Goldies. My weekly sheltered accommodation sessions are in particular a lifeline to many of the attendees.
 
“And Noodle has made so many new friends!”
 
ENDS
 
Image shows Alison Dawn with her Labradoodle, Noodle.
 
Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.
 
here to edit.

PRESS RELEASE
 
Monday 18 March 2018
 
Goldies goes Bollywood
   
They are the SING&SMILE charity reaching across South Wales with fun-packed daytime singing sessions for older people.
  
Starting on Thursday evening April 4 from 6-7pm a new Goldies Cymru session based on Bollywood music and dance will take place at Penylan Library in the community centre.
  
It is supported by the Cardiff-based Moondance Foundation and will be taken by Amruta Garud who is well known for her work with older people from the Indian community across South Wales.
  
Originally from India, Amruta moved to Cardiff 9 years ago. She is qualified and an experienced Indian Classical Music Teacher and an examiner. She believes music has no language other than love!
 
“Goldies” as it is more fondly known is NOT a choir but instead brings people together to sing the popular hits of the 50s and onwards through its increasing number of sessions across Wales and its award-winning schools intergenerational programmes.
  
Rachel Parry is Goldies Cymru programme leader, she said;
  
“We are delighted that Amruta has joined our increasing number of session leaders. We are hoping to introduce Bollywood sessions with her at many of our existing sessions in the months ahead.
  
”We are going to have some wonderful times dancing gently to Bollywood music and learning new steps. The music is uplifting and beautiful. Amruta is clearly very experienced and we are confident that these sessions will be extremely successful.”
  
For more information contact: Rachel Parry on 07796 714816 or e-mail rachel@goldiescymru.org.uk
 
ENDS
 
Originally from India, Amruta Garud moved to Cardiff 9 years ago. She is qualified experienced Indian Classical Music Teacher and an examiner. She believes Music has no language other than love!
 
Press enquiries to either Rachel Parry on 07796 714816 or Goldies Founder Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.

A FANTASTIC GOLDIES DAY OUT
​
Hundreds of our ‘Goldies’ headed for Port Talbot and the Princess Royal Theatre on Tuesday November 6th for our very special Goldies Day with a WW1 theme. This day was made possible with the support of the Big Lottery Fund in Wales and the Heritage Lottery. It was a day of songs and smiles with our Goldies Cymru session leaders led by Rachel Parry on stage leading the sing-alongs, the Ukulele Nights and the brilliant Central Primary School children on stage in the morning singing songs and reciting poems from 100 years ago.
 
Everyone was treated with a 45 minute performance on stage in the afternoon of the Armistice Cantata. This of course is the Goldies Award-Winning project from the children at Thornhill Primary School, Cardiff. Winners of the Education Category in the 2018 National Lottery Awards.
 
Another memorable day for Goldies Cymru and huge thanks to everyone including the team at the Princess Royal Theatre, together everyone contributed to a very special day as you will see from our pictures taken by Bill Savage.

PRESS RELEASE
 
Thursday November 1, 2018
 
The Golden-Oldies Charity was founded in Bath by Grenville Jones in 2007. Initially there were four daytime Sing&Smile sessions for older isolated people in Bath and Keynsham Community Rooms. Now, 11 years on, there over 160 sessions across England and Wales (Goldies Cymru) reaching out to thousands of people.
 
As the work of the charity has developed, session leaders have come forward to support the Goldies ethos. There are now over 60 freelance leaders from Bradford to Cornwall and Swansea to Southend.
 
As new sessions have been added many have in partnership with organisations supporting adults with learning difficulties. There has also been an increasing number, year on year, of attendees who are adults living with dementia or early stage Alzheimer’s. 
 
On Wednesday November 14 in the City of Bath where Goldies first started, a new pilot project will be launched. This will be a Memory Café at St Michael’s Church, in the centre of the city, financially supported by St John’s Hospital and working in partnership with St Michael’s Church and BaNeS Dementia Action Alliance.
 
Grenville Jones explains;
 
“Everyone is welcome at a Goldies session but as we have grown in recent years we have noticed that more and more people attending the session are in the early stages of dementia, a major issue and growing concern in society today. 
 
“This, our first Memory Café, is specifically designed for people living with dementia and their Carers to attend. The sessions will take place at St Michaels opposite Waitrose on the second Wednesday of every month and we hope that people across Bath & North East Somerset will spread the word to everyone who may be affected by dementia and who they feel could benefit from attending. 
 
“The songs have been specifically chosen and it is our hope that this will be the first of a number of Memory Cafes that the Golden-Oldies Charity will open in the years ahead. We are indebted to St John’s Hospital for their support of this new programme and the community spirit of Rev. Roger Driver and everyone at St Michaels.”
 
The Memory Café at St Michael’s in Bath takes place from 11.00am until 12.15pm and will be led by Steve Lawrence. Everyone is welcome and with the café open in the church, and there’s the chance to stay on for lunch after the session.
.
Goldies with Sir Cliff Richard has made remarkable progress since it started in 2007. Last month it received the accolade of Education Category winner in the prestigious National Lottery Awards, a WW1 schools intergenerational programme led by Grenville Jones and featured on BBC1. 
 
Last weekend its popular Goldies Cymru session in a Cardiff library was also in the spotlight on ITV and Scottish TV when a film was shown during an X Factor break and seen by millions.
 
For further details of the work of the charity, its sessions and projects, see www.golden-oldies.org.uk
 
ENDS
 
Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.

MEDIA RELEASE
​25th October, 2018

Susanna Thomas, organiser of Goldies Cymru in Cardiff, honoured by
The National Lottery on primetime ITV
 
The National Lottery’s ‘Big Surprise’ will honour its first Welsh recipient this Saturday (27 September) – with Goldies Cymru’s much-loved organiser, Susanna Thomas, receiving a surprise visit from Robin Windsor of Strictly Come Dancing fame.
 
In a 90-second slot during an ad break on Saturday night primetime ITV, the National Lottery ‘Big Surprise’ honours individuals who have made a real difference with the help of National Lottery funding.
 
This week, Susanna’s story will receive national recognition with around five million people expected to tune in across the ITV network.
 
Goldies Cymru is part of the Golden Oldies charity which reaches out to brighten the lives of hundreds of older, isolated people across England and Wales. When Susanna, who is senior branch librarian at Rhydypennau Library in Cardiff, first heard about Goldies Cymru three years ago, she decided she wanted to set-up her own group using music to bring people together within her library’s local community.
 
For Susanna’s ‘Big Surprise’, The National Lottery worked with Susanna’s Goldies Cymru group to film the transformation of Rhydypennau Library into a glittering ballroom and had Strictly Come Dancing’s Robin on hand to spin Susanna around the dancefloor, in front of her cheering Goldies.
 
Susanna said: “It was all quite overwhelming, but by far the best bit of the surprise was seeing the Goldies all dressed up. People you see every week going to such an effort made me quite emotional.
 
“This was a wonderful surprise from The National Lottery and I can’t believe that so many people managed to keep such an exciting secret under wraps.”
 
Robin Windsor commented: “Dancing for me means joy and happiness so for Susanna to bring this into so many lives is a wonderful gift. It was fabulous to be able to surprise Susanna and thank her for all that she does for the elderly and vulnerable in her Cardiff community. I hope that Susanna and all her Goldies enjoyed the surprise as much as I did.”
 
Across Wales and the South West of England, Golden Oldies groups usually have to hire out the space they use for sessions, as well as paying people to lead them. However, Susanna was sure that a Goldies Cymru group would be a hit in Rhydypennau and convinced her bosses that hosting a Goldies group in the library would benefit the whole community.
 
Susanna said: “When I first contacted Golden Oldies, I never expected that a group would give me so much happiness, but it has been fantastic. Originally, we only had a few people joining our sessions, but thanks to word of mouth, we’re now up to 40 regular attendees and are still growing. There are so many new friendships made, it's been wonderful to be a part of it.”
 
Founder of Golden Oldies, Grenville Jones, said: “People often arrive at Goldies feeling a bit down, but after an hour with Susanna, they leave feeling revitalised. As soon as The National Lottery got in touch about the opportunity, we knew that there was one person who deserved such a special surprise. This group wouldn’t exist without her and it was great to be able to give her something back.”
 
Susanna’s ‘Big Surprise’ will air across the ITV network this Saturday (27 October) during the ad break in The X Factor. It is among 17 short films being shown throughout the year, during ITV’s primetime Saturday night TV schedule, to celebrate and showcase National Lottery funded heroes across the UK. The all-important Saturday night Lotto results will also continue to be delivered during the weekly slot.
 
Since 2011, Golden Oldies has received just over £600,000 of National Lottery funding which has gone towards running sing-along sessions for isolated, elderly people, as well as those with learning difficulties and dementia. In Cardiff, where Susanna hosts her weekly sessions, over £400 million of National Lottery funding has supported around 6,100 projects while in Wales over 50,000 projects have benefitted from funding, which has amounted to a total of over £1.7 billion.
 
Players raise, on average, over £30m for National Lottery-funded projects every week across the arts, sports, heritage, health, education, environment, charity and voluntary sectors. 
 
‘The Big Surprise’ is the continuation of the return of The National Lottery results to primetime TV through a commercial partnership with ITV (from 14 April 2018), and follows the success of ‘Race to the Numbers’ where members of the public were given the chance to win £10,000 at National Lottery funded venues across the UK.
 
For more information on National Lottery funding please visit:  www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk
 
For more information on Goldies Cymru please visit: www.goldiescymru.org.uk
 -Ends-
 
 
For further information, including to arrange interviews with Susanna Thomas, please contact Effective Communication, Camelot’s regional PR agency: Katherine Kennedy on: 02920 838314, email: kkennedy@effcom.co.uk or the Camelot Press Office: 0207 632 5711
 
Notes to Editors:
●      Camelot UK Lotteries Limited is the licensed operator of The National Lottery® and is committed to raising money for National Lottery Good Causes designated by Parliament. Camelot is not responsible for distributing or awarding these funds.
●       On average, Camelot generates around £30 million each week for National Lottery-funded projects. In total, £38 billion has now been raised and more than 535,000 individual grants have been made across the UK - the equivalent of around 190 lottery grants in every UK postcode district. The National Lottery has so far given away over £67 billion in prizes and created more than 5,000 millionaires or multi-millionaires since its launch in 1994.
●       For further information on Camelot, The National Lottery and its games, please visit: www.camelotgroup.co.uk and www.national-lottery.co.uk
●       Players of all National Lottery games must be aged 16 or over.

​PRESS RELEASE
 
Thursday, October 25, 2018
 
We WILL Remember Them
 
Keynsham will honour the 89 men who served in the First World War in a weekend of poignant commemorations starting on Friday morning November 9.
 
At 10.30am children from local schools and representatives of community organisations, including the Royal British Legion and the Town Council, will gather at the War Memorial at Keynsham Memorial Park. They will then walk to the Parish Church of St John’s for a one hour memorial service starting at 11.00am.
 
During the service there will be WW1 poems and readings as well as performances of WW1 songs by the children of Chandag Junior School and the Keynsham Good Afternoon Choir, led by Grenville Jones.
 
This is an open event which is being publicised widely across the town and a packed church is anticipated that morning. There will be over 120 children from Chandag Junior School and St John’s Primary School as well as 60 members of the choir and families representing those who gave their lives 100 years ago.
 
In recent weeks thousands of poppies have been knitted in a project led by Keynsham in Bloom. From that morning onwards the poppies will be draped from the tower of St John’s Church.
 
Two special WW1 medleys will be sung during the service. These are part of the Golden-Oldies Charity schools intergenerational programme which recently won the national accolade of Education Category winner in the 2018 National Lottery Awards. As well as being leader of the afternoon choir Grenville is the founder of the Golden-Oldies Charity which has two popular Sing&Smile sessions in the town and over 160 across England and Wales.
 
At the conclusion of the service 89 members of the audience (including school children) will bring forward wooden crosses as a mark of respect for those local men who served their town and country.
 
Our picture shows Grenville receiving the National Lottery award from celebrity soprano Katherine Jenkins in September.
 
Please note : if weather inclement everyone will go straight to the church for 11.00am.
 
ENDS
 
Press enquiries to Grenville Jones on 07778 282934.