The best thing about being young is heading out to a club on a Saturday night all dressed up for good music and drinks with friends. If they have this privilege, why can’t the elderly?
Introducing Posh Nightclub, a place where you can find 60-year-old and older patrons sipping booze dressed in flapper dresses, capes and top hats dancing the night away to 50s Rockabilly hits. Canes, crutches and walkers are tucked away to the side of the dance floor.
This vintage cabaret party takes place in Crawley, England and a few other small towns weekly since the creators noticed their mother was growing lonely in her old age. The brother and sister duo, Simon Casson and Annie Bowden, started by setting up a lively tea party with a few neighbors, complete with server, 50s tunes and all the tea and snacks they could take.
The women had so much fun that they wanted more, so Simon and Annie hosted another get together in a church hall, sent out a few more invitations and recruited more people to help serve and entertain the party goers. “That went so well that the Posh Nightclub was born.” says the pair.
Unlike your typical nightclub, Posh opens in the afternoon. The party starts with tea served by around 20 volunteers, then moves onto a flapper dance performance while champagne is poured and from there, things slowly get rowdier. One guest stepped outside to talk to an interviewer during “Twist and Shout”. “You can’t hear yourself think in here,” she says, “Isn’t that marvelous? Isn’t that just how it should be?”
Along with the entertainment of dressing up in sparkly dresses, Cuban heels, bowties, and top hats, there are also performers. Though the catered entertainment is no burlesque show (although there has been in the past), there is a regular Elvis impersonator that comes and puts on a show.
“When I first started performing here, I thought [retired people], relaxed gig, no problem. I could not have been more wrong.” says fake Elvis. ” This is the only place I’ve ever had underwear thrown at me. They were big grannie panties.”
Studies have shown that loneliness increases as people age and the Posh Nightclub is putting on something great to help fight that. The producer, Dicky Eaton, who has taken over the shin-dig had this to say about the club, “What we’re really doing is an anti-loneliness campaign presented as a club event. A lot of our guests maybe don’t get out much as they once did and don’t see friends as often. Well, this provides a unique way to do both, while also being a part of something that’s vibrant and exciting. Just because you reach a certain age, doesn’t mean you don’t want to have fun anymore. I think society has a habit of forgetting that.”
Instead of being careful and hosting events that you would find in a senior living home, this club is providing entertainment and fun that the elderly need that most people wouldn’t attempt. Most of the time, the aging generation is seen as fragile and delicate, but while taking some of that into consideration, Posh has created an environment where these spring chickens can be cut loose, even just for an afternoon.
[/imgsrc]
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
