It's A Tea Rave!

St Vincent’s Brixton recently held an event, It’s a Tea Rave!, to engage older people with socialising and physical activity. The event was a celebration of the International Day of Older Persons. This event provided an opportunity for older people to come together, have a natter and a dance and share a delicious tea with hot food, sandwiches and of course tea and cake. DJ Michelle Killington (Empower from Within) got people up and dancing to music from ska, reggae, pop, soul, disco and rock n’ roll!. Support was also provided to people who needed assistance to attend the event . The event was opened by the Mayor of Lambeth, Cllr. Adrian Garden who also enjoyed a dance with the 40 people (aged 50-91) who attended. We have had wonderful feedback from, all have asked that for this activity to run as a regular event.

We are applying to the THINC fund for £9,232 to run a bi-monthly Tea Rave for older persons and their supporters. The seven Tea Rave events will take place during January, March, May, July, September, November, with a special Christmas rave in December 2026. We will use our network of local organisations including Project Smith Community Connectors, Faiths Together in Lambeth, AgeUK Lambeth, Vida Walsh Centre, South East London MIND, ‘We Are 336’, DASL, Black Prince Trust, West Indian Association of Service Personnel (WASP), Lambeth Council, Lambeth Asian Centre, The Lambeth Elderly Association to invite people to the events. We regularly consult our visitors/attendees and understand loneliness, isolation and lack of opportunities to meet others is a major factor that affects older persons’ health and wellbeing. The Tea Rave events will provide a regular activity that people can look forward to, share stories, and make friends within a safe and warm environment. Reviewing the pilot project feedback , we understand there aren’t enough opportunities for older persons to gather even if they live close to each other, a lot of older persons use word of mouth to share information rather than digital media and the lack of local/timely information can be a key factor to someone becoming isolated. All of these can affect physical and mental health, impacting upon an individuals’ quality of life.

The bi-monthly Tea Raves will provide a regular activity for 45 people aged 50-90 (and beyond!) to come together at St Vincent’s Brixton (an accessible space), with dancing/gentle exercise, food and fun. Each event will have a local provider for older persons available to chat about their services, also the St Vincent’s Brixton team will provide signposting to local services and networks for older persons. We will measure the success and impact of these events via consultation and feedback however we predict that the Tea Raves will support social inclusion, encourage older persons to meet/take part in gentle and fun physical activity, share information about issues that affect older adults, receive support and advice regarding local opportunities and services, these positively impacting upon community cohesion and individuals’ mental and physical health.