Volunteering at “The Posh Club”

I am lucky enough to work for Linnworks, a company that support and encourage employee volunteering. All employees are offered two days a year for volunteering and making a difference in their locality.
I feel that the most recent volunteering day was probably the most rewarding, so let’s talk about that.

What is “The Posh Club”?

The first rule of “The Posh Club“… is that you should talk about it. Taking the words from their own Website, “The Posh Club is a glamorous performance and social club for older people held regularly in five locations across London and the South East.”

The aims of “The Posh Club” are to tackle loneliness and social isolation amongst the elderly. It offers an afternoon out with likeminded individuals with an afternoon tea, unlimited beverages and entertainment, all for a very reasonable £5 per head.

In 2024, “The Posh Club” came to Cardiff, and Cardiff is so much better for it. At the September event, there were about 180 senior citizens, together with carers, who can join their special person for free.
“The Posh Club” is run by “Duckie” and “Common Wealth” with the aid of funding from Arts Council Wales, The National Lottery and “Together for Trowbridge and St Mellons”. They also accept individual donations that help them to put on this extravaganza for so many. Another opportunity for organisations to make a difference – this is what keeps the price so low.

 

How I got here

I discovered “The Posh Club” back in June of this year, when reading that some of my favourite entertainers, “Kitch n’Sync” were performing there. I immediately booked my parents in, giving them an event to look forward to.

It’s not well known, but I’m an “occassional” performer too. Best described as “clunky” – not polished, making up with enthusiasm what I lack in talent. I thought I’d enquire about not only volunteering as a waiter, but also doing five minutes on the stage. An opportunity for my parents to watch, hopefully exclaiming “that’s my son, that is”. Spoke with The Posh Club HQ and it was all arranged.
A few hours after arranging everything, I received a call from my parents, telling me how excited they were to be going on holiday. “When”, I asked – “September”, what dates – “all of September, 3rd September to 3rd October”, we’re off on a cruise!

I deliberated about what to do here, and decided that I should do it anyway. I had fears about getting emotional with my parents in the audience, and there was an element of feeling that I would miss out if I turned down an opportunity.

Having acted as a “Children’s entertainer” in the past, at my Sons’ birthday parties, together with more recently perhaps getting the slightly dubious title of “Adult Entertainer” – well, I was entertaining adults, it would be fun to add “Senior’s Entertainer” to the list. Please note the apostrophe in the that last title, it’s important.

The Volunteering Day

The day started at 10:00. I got there quite early to meet people, get the layout of the venue and to help with the setup. There were already quite a few people there, putting tablecloths on tables, unboxing food and the like. I’d never seen so many boxes of Mr Kipling – as if there had been a raid on the factory!

The main build of the stage/lights and sound system had been done the day before, together with the setting out of tables and chairs.
We had a volunteer briefing, were assigned job areas (I was on coffee, quite fitting really) and instructed on how to perform “the cake dance”.
The brief was simple, “make our guests feel special!” Serve, listen, talk and dance. That’s what we did, and it was oh, so rewarding.

Although my duties were mainly Coffee, inevitably I was drawn into pouring tea. Not just pouring tea, but taking instruction – “That’s only half a cup, up to the top please”. Luckily I was prepared – my parents brought me up well, with this being a regular task when I was young.
Going back to “the cake dance”, I was familiar with the concept as Dad mentioned it after his first visit to “The Posh Club” – “they did “the cake dance”, just like they do on a cruise”. We were all given a two tier cake display with the instruction that we’d set off in a line, showing off our wares to the guests before settling a set of cakes down on each table. We snaked through the tables like a Mr Kipling Conga, to “ooohs” and “aahs” from everyone. I did my bit by offering the cakes before whisking them away again, much to the amusement of our guests.

There were sandwiches as well, expertly prepared on-site, including special requests for “meat-free” trays.
After the food was released, I noticed a pattern occurring across the tables. Funnily enough, my comments of “I see that you’ve started on the cakes, but you still have sandwiches left” fell on selectively deaf ears, but then luckily the same people were able to hear the question “more tea”, so there were no issues with lack of hydration.

Entertainment

There was no shortage of quality entertainment, starting with the host and compere, “Shirley Classy” who kicked off the day with “Let’s get this party started”. We had Hula Hoops from “Jess Bee”, poetry from “Rachel Helena Walsh”, singing and dancing from “The Bowtie Boys” and a few more songs from Shirley.
In between the quality professional performers, I did my bit.

Performance

The plan for my performance was simple – get people used to the fact that you’re a waiter, then take to the stage when the guests least expect it. I believe that the term is “breaking the fourth wall”.
I recruited Leo to help with my performance. The brief was simple – “try to stop me getting on stange, then be unimpressed, be very unimpressed”.

When it came to my time, I started off by seeing some equipment on the stage, left over from a previous performer. I decided that “I can do that” and made my way up. Straight past Leo, I strode, nearly fell at the top of the stage steps (I take credit for that as being part of the performance, but I did actually trip and it began. The sound guy played “I can’t get no satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones and I was off!
As part of the “Wales Burlesque Festival” in August, I attended an “All American Runway Bootcamp” by Leighton Rees Milan (from the Welsh Ballroom Community). It was great fun, and while I got nowhere in the “runway battle”, I took a lot from it for the opening of my five minutes.

I tend to think of my “performance” skills as being like a snowball – the core of which is “wishing I was more involved when back at school”, gradually layering with party-tricks, experiences and skills that I put together to create acts, each laced with a thick wodge of humour (glamour isn’t my thing). Runway was the latest “skill” to join my eclectic collection.

I strutted up and down the catwalk, slinging my jacket over my shoulder, “working it” as best I could. A little scarf juggling display, joined by a few hula hoop tricks followed which were met by cheers and applause from the audience, and dismay from Leo.

 

Sadly, very little evidence exists of my performance, largely caused by my phone running out of storage 30 seconds in. It lives on in my mind, however, and no doubt in the minds of the guests. When I got back to the main job of pouring drinks, I received many compliments, most of them for the performance, though notably one for tea – “well, you may not be able to hula hoop, but you can pour a decent cup of tea”. I smiled politely and kept pouring! Again, my upbringing came in useful there.

Dancing

On of the sweetest memories of the day was joining in with the dancing. I had been told that our guests love to dance and I was not disappointed! Pockets of dancing started appearing all over the place. I have fond memories of being led through a mini line dance by clearly a very accomplished dancer, with sharp, direct cues. I can’t lead but thanks to “Turn’d Up Fitness”, I can follow at dance, so I was welcomed into the group.
I observed a lady dancing alone with a look of pure joy on her face, completely loving the moment, before stopping suddenly to sit down. I made sure that she was ok, she was but she’d danced enough for one day.

Volunteering

Volunteering Days are a way for organisations to give back to the community. Over the years, I have done litter picks, beach tidies, fence painting, dog walking, fundraising, conference monitoring, race marshalling, catwalk (fashion show) and took part in a Pantomime (which was attended by Ruth Jones). These days are a wonderful opportunity for teamwork, especially when they involve people from different parts of an organisation.

Since working remotely, I haven’t had the opportunity to volunteer with people from my organisation, though I hope to do that sometime soon. I know that they are involved in helping out at Food Banks, having been involved in the original plans.

I know people who “do some volunteering” because it’s on their “Personal Development Plan”, i.e. they “need” to do it to meet their goals.

I know of organisations who need a certain number of their staff to “do some volunteering” as it helps them to prove that they are a responsible employer – it can be a question that comes up when bidding for a contract, or indeed going for a place in the “UK’s Top 100 places to work”.

My recommendation is to find something that connects with you. Oh, and don’t forget to have fun!
I can honestly say that this was one of “The Posh Club” the most worthwhile volunteering days that I have done. Check them out if you fancy trying something different, or indeed if you have a significant elder in your life who deserves a good afternoon out!

Thank you, Simon, Dickie, Chantal, Leo, the volunteers and all of the other people who work hard to make “The Posh Club” the joyful force of good that it is!

Future

Selective availability as a “pop-up” act for Christmas Parties, Birthdays, Weddings etc – drop me a line if you’re interested! Most of all, please consider volunteering, and let’s talk about “The Posh Club”.

Thank you, Nigel.