Hounslow-based charity Flourish has announced the start of weekly Go Vintage events for local residents aged 50 and above.

This project, funded by the London Borough of Hounslow, aims to promote health, wellbeing and resilience in older people.

The Go Vintage events include a weekly Vintage Tea Dance on Thursdays from 2pm to 4pm, and a weekly Sunday vintage market open to the younger generation.

Entrance to the Vintage Tea Dance, lead by an instructor from The London Swing Dance Society, is £2, and light refreshments are provided.

Project co-ordinator Sorana Girjob said: "The music we will be playing [at the Tea Dance] is the 1940s to 1950s; boogie-woogie, wartime songs, rock and roll, swing, jazz, and we will sometimes also have Bollywood music from the 1960s and 1970s.

"We wanted to revitalise nostalgia by picking music from the '40s and '50s. It was a period of austerity, but they had better value for money, more community spirit.

"We wanted to ask, 'how did people live?' and catch the contemporary mood, what can we learn from that era?"

The Go Vintage events will be run by a newly set up social enterprise aiming to combat feelings of isolation in older people, and teach vital business skills.

Girjob added: "Go Vintage will be a social enterprise run by older people. We will train people in social enterprise and business skills to run this exciting dance club."

Flourish aims to teach the older generation vital business and social enterprise skills, such as computing, which can open up a new world of technology for the over-50s.

The enterprise looks to help those who would like to get back into the workplace, volunteer or gain contemporary skills. The Go Vintage events will be run by Flourish members.

Girjob said: "We're running [the Go Vintage events] throughout the summer on Thursdays and Sundays, and ongoing in the year to come.

"The London Borough of Hounslow have funded it because of the effects of social isolation; you can get run down, ill, don't eat well, feel depressed.

"These events provide the opportunity to have a dance and a chat and meet friends. The Sunday market events will encourage friendships between old and young people, as young people will go shopping at the vintage markets.

"We called it Go Vintage as in 'get up and go', the metaphor for getting people up and healthy."

Why not dance your way into health with the The London Swing Dance Society at weekly GoVintage events?

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