L'Arche Boogie Night

Boogie Night at L'Arche

A group of gleeful children playfully giggling and squealing outside a secluded Church hall doorway greeted our group of faithful SVPers last Friday, as we all wondered "have we come to the right place?" Armed with our contribution to the buffet (for those curious amongst you- sausage rolls and crisps), searching for any signpost that would hint at the L'Arche Boogie Night which we were attending for the very first time, we had not expected quite so many children.

It turned out that, yes, we were in the right place. And no, L'Arche Boogie Nights aren't just attended by L'Arche core members and support workers. They are an altogether more family-oriented affair. SVP have been making contacts with the newly established L'Arche community in Didsbury for some months. L'Arche is an organisation that strives to create faith-based communities for learning disabled people to live in as valued members within a family atmosphere. This ethos was clear to see at the Boogie Night, with core members (i.e. those with learning disabilities) dancing the night away with staff support workers, as well as welcoming in guests and chatting animatedly with them.

Held at St Cuthbert's R.C. Church in Withington, this night was an opportunity for SVP to make further connections within the L'Arche community -we had the chance to sit and talk with the chairman of the committee, for example - whilst having a bit of fun too. With a fully licensed bar, and a DJ blasting out cheesy chart songs for people to bop to on the dancefloor, as well as a buffet stacked with delicious treats and homemade cakes, this SVP outing felt considerably more informal than usual. A group of SVPers could be seen boogieing away on the dancefloor and one of our newest volunteers, Hanny, siezed the chance to learn a few tips from the DJ and spent most of the night spinning records for us to dance to!

It wasn't all play though.

L'Arche are still awaiting the go-ahead from the authorities to be able to begin housing core members, but events like this enable the community to get together and celebrate the work that they are anticipating beginning. It is also a great way to  unwind and forget the stresses of the red-tape and refocus. SVP members attended in the hope of showing our moral support for L'Arche and helping in any practical ways that we can, even if that is simply lightening the workload of Boogie Nights by helping to clean up afterwards. Practical action to help L'Arche is something that SVP are committed to; we recently held a massive Shrove Tuesday pancake sale at which volunteers cooked and sold pancakes all day long. The proceeds of the sales helped to fund any necessity items for the L'Arche house. Building a relationship with L'Arche is proving to be a source of great joy for members of our SVP, and this joy is something that we have learnt from L'Arche. It seems to be a vital component of their very existence -and it is infectious.

The spirit of childlike glee that met us at the door on our arrival summed up much of the evening for us volunteers - we had perhaps not expected to have quite so much...well, FUN!

For more information on L'Arche Manchester, visit http://www.larchemanchester.org.uk/ or for a summary of L'Arche visit our own page here