When 100 older and younger neighbours came together to dance, chat and connect

Please note: this post is 21 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only

Last month we hosted our Fifth Birthday Party. It was our biggest Social Club yet, with almost 100 older and younger people coming together to chat, dance, and eat cake. 

We’re still hearing from neighbours how much they enjoyed the party so we thought we'd share a few of our favourite moments with you. 

One of our favourite things about the day was welcoming new people, like Jean (pictured left). It was Jean’s first in person Social Club she told us after the party, "I’ll be 90 next year but I just don’t feel it when I’m here. Everyone made me feel welcome - thanks for a wonderful afternoon."

We were treated to a song from Pat (80), who came to the party with her friend Jo (34). The pair (pictured right) have been friends for almost two and a half years through our Love Your Neighbour programme. 

Pat sang a lovely rendition of Blue Moon for us all (soz to any Manchester United fans out there), and gave a special thank you to Jo for being a wonderful friend.

Pat and Jo were joined by lots of other Love Your Neighbour pairs too, including Diann (87) and Amy (27) (pictured below) who have been friends for over three years! 

Amy told us, "this was a really big moment for Diann to come to a room full of people, and I'm so proud of her for taking the step and coming with me, we even had a little boogie!" Diann made lots of new pals on her table and already wants to make sure she comes to even more Social Clubs.

One of our newer friendships who were introduced through Love Your Neighbour, Joyce (90) and Tatum (26) (pictured right), also came to the party together. They were both up and dancing for most of the afternoon, making a change from their usual visits where they love to talk about Manchester's history.

As well as the dancing, there was lots of delicious food, which was kindly donated to us by local restaurants – Tibetan Kitchen, The Alchemist and Nells Pizza. We were also spoilt with cakes and bubbly donated by younger neighbours and Sixty Eight People.  

If you want to see more from the day, including some top dance moves, check out the video on our Instagram.

Thanks so much to everyone who made the day so special by joining us, dancing, or donating! And as always thank you for being part of the Manchester Cares community.