Hello and welcome to our December newsletter,        

This newsletter will update you on all things Keep Dancing.
    
Keep Dancing classes in December were all about traditional Scottish Ceilidh dancing.



If you are a Keep Dancing regular, please do always get in touch if you have a new style of dance you would like to learn or if you have a song that really gets you moving. Your suggestions are always greatly appreciated.    
    
Your continued support choosing to keep dancing with us every week is greatly appreciated. Should you ever have feedback about a piece of music or particular dance please always do get in touch.   

     
In this month’s newsletter:                          
      

• Frequently asked questions
• West Midlands Fire Service Safe and Well Checks
• Keeping Warm This Christmas
• Keep Dancing class bookings    
• Creating an account with us   
• Keep Dancing December 2023
• Keep Dancing timetable      
• Paying by cheque
• Leave us a Google Review
• Contacting GP surgeries
• Volunteers needed
• Board of Directors Recruitment
• Welcome On Board
• Keep Dancing Moseley update
• Keep Dancing Sutton Coldfield update and EXTRA good news!
• Keep Dancing Harborne update
• Keep Dancing West Bromwich update
• Keep Dancing Harborne update
• Keep Dancing Garretts Green & Acocks Green update
• Keep Dancing From Home   
• Dates For Your Diary    
• Xpress-YourELF
• Keep Dancing Christmas Party 2023
• New project. Keep Dancing for Carers! 
• New Project: Keep Dancing for Carers Downloadable Class!      
• New project. Let’s Dance! 
• Support us when you shop online            
• Just smile and keep dancing merchandise                      
• Thank you for your support!                           
• Find out the dances you will be learning in January 2024          
• Read our BLOG: 5 Benefits of Ceilidh Dancing

Frequently Asked Questions

Ever wondered what will happen to your booking in the rare event we need to cancel a class? Or do you have questions about why some classes are free while others have different prices? Check out our frequently asked questions blog post here for answers to these questions and more!

West Midlands Fire Service – Safe and Well Checks

West Midlands Fire Service offer free home safety checks to anyone living in the area who is concerned about fire safety and eager to learn how to reduce their risk. A fire officer visits homes and gives advice about important issues including kitchen safety, smoking materials, electrical safety, escape plans and supply free smoke alarms here.

Keeping Warm This Christmas

Now the winter season is almost here, I’m sure many of us will be searching for efficient ways to keep warm without breaking the bank. Money Saving Expert have published an in depth article full of tips and tricks to warm up this Christmas. You can read the article here.

You can sign up to the Priority Services Register if you are either; of State Pension age, disabled or have a long term health condition, or are considered ‘vulnerable’ by your energy vulnerable’ by your energy network. Being on the Priority Services Register means your energy supplier can make your call a priority whenever you contact them. They will also provide their engineers with a password when they visit you so you can be sure they are genuine, and move your prepayment meter if you struggle to get to it. You can sign up for the register via your electricity operator’s website. Not sure who your electricity operator is? Type in your postcode here to find out.

Don’t forget – once you reach State Pension age you should automatically start receiving the annual one off Winter Fuel Payment. If you have not received this you can apply here via the Government website.

Keep Dancing Bookings

When booking for your Keep Dancing classes (even if you’re attending a class that is currently FREE because of funding) please can you ensure that you book through the website or let me know by email that you will be coming along. This is the link for booking: www.xpress-yourself.co.uk/dance-classes

Also please note that once you have booked and paid for your class the booking is not transferable or refundable if you cancel. 

Thank you in advance.

Creating an Account With Us!

Do you find it tiring to repeatedly enter your contact details whenever you book your Keep Dancing class? Don’t worry, you can now set up an account to make the process of booking hassle-free. Alternatively, for a small fee of £1.50, we can set up the account for you! To pay the £1.50 service fee please go to our website here: https://xpress-yourself.co.uk/classes/uncategorised/service-fee/

By setting up an account, you will no longer have to input your contact details every time and can go straight through to booking your class.

When setting up your account please note we will send your password to your registered email address, which you can then change as per your preference. 

Keep Dancing December

Keep Dancing Sutton Coldfield showing off their ‘Gay Gordons’

Keep Dancing Quinton having fun at the Ceilidh

The wonderful Keep Dancing Aldridge enjoying a very jolly Christmas Meal

Keep Dancing Timetable

Places for all classes are limited so booking in advance is essential.  Classes will always go on sale a week in advance on a Monday at 10am. 

See our timetable below for all of our Keep Dancing classes now running or about to launch! Keep Dancing Greatest Hits has now returned to a Friday.

Paying by Cheque

We are now incurring bank charges for paying in cheques, meaning that sadly we have to look at passing on the costs. At the same time we are aware that for some people paying by cheque is their only option and we would not want this to be too much of an inconvenience or prohibit anyone from joining our classes, so we have looked at how this extra cost can be shared. Therefore, if you pay for a class each week by cheque, the cost will be £5.80. However if you pay for more than one class at a time by cheque, we will pay the charge so that classes remain at £5.50 each. On the back of the cheque please make a note of which class dates you are paying for, as the bookings will be non-transferable or refundable, in line with all other bookings. Also, if paying by cheque, please make it payable to Xpress-Yourself Dance CIC and send it to Xpress-Yourself headquarters at 75 Wheatsheaf Road, Oldbury, B69 1SN. We are not able to accept cheques at class, thank you for your understanding.

Leave us a Google Review

Happy with our dance classes? Help us spread the word by leaving us a Google review here.

Contacting GP Surgeries

Thank you to everyone who has shared details of their GP surgery so far; we are grateful for your support. Please note we are still gathering this information as part of our marketing strategy. To fill out the form, click on the link below. Your responses will remain anonymous, and completing the form will only take a brief moment of your time, yet will greatly help us.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf9jd4XpMXArlIbmpoXAlWwu_l65842gvJ6vy_pEiRkQUihIg/viewform?usp=pp_url

Volunteers needed!

We are looking to recruit volunteers to support our ongoing work. If you or someone you know is looking to make a difference in 2024 then perhaps you, or they may consider volunteering for us. You will be given training opportunities to further develop your skills.

Keep Dancing Host – maybe you know someone who would like the benefits of Keep Dancing (meeting new people, feeling a sense of community but unable to join in with the dancing). We would like to introduce our Volunteer Keep Dancing Hosts who will be responsible for welcoming people to our Keep Dancing classes, introducing them to other members, offering extra support to anyone who may need it, taking photographs of the session, and capturing any golden moments within our sessions. Our Keep Dancing classes run weekly.

Tea Dance Host – For our new project launching in 2024 in Sutton Coldfield we will need support running our tea dances, making teas and coffees, helping to set up the room and decorate the space and clearing up after the event. Our tea dances will be happening once a month.

Admin/marketing support– If you have experience in admin and marketing, and perhaps you love a spreadsheet and would like to utilise your skills on a voluntary basis. We would love to hear from you.

To find out more information about our Volunteering positions please email Faye at hello@xpress-yourself.co.uk

Board of Directors Recruitment

We are looking to further strengthen our board of directors. If you have skills or experience  in equality and diversity, finance or marketing, and you are looking to use your skills to support a growing organisation, then you may want to consider applying for the voluntary role of director with Xpress-Yourself Dance CIC.

Find out more information here.

Welcome On Board

This month we welcomed Olivia Jones as our Part-time Administration and Marketing Assistant. Olivia will be supporting the daily running of the organisation and has already proven herself to be an incredible asset. You may receive emails from Olivia admin@xpress-yourself.co.uk so please make sure this is marked as a safe email address.

We also welcomed Jean Summerton (a regular keep dancing dancer) as a volunteer who will support the marketing of our Forward Carers CIC Keep Dancing for Carers project. Jean we very much look forward to working with you.

Thank you to you if you got in touch to support us a volunteer for our tea dances. We will be in touch in the new year with more information and dates.

Keep Dancing Moseley

Thanks to funding from Hall Green NNS, Keep Dancing Moseley will continue to run, fully funded and so the class is FREE. The class in October will also move to a new venue at The Shires, 218 Wake Green Rd, Moseley, Birmingham B13 9PQ. Booking in advance (as always) is essential!

Keep Dancing Sutton Coldfield and EXTRA good news!

Thanks to funding from Sutton Coldfield Charitable Trust Keep Dancing will continue to run in Sutton Coldfield on a Monday 10-11. 

The generous funding has allowed us to to charge just £2 for the class each week. Should we not have been successful participants would have been charged the usual £5.50.  

So if you know someone in Sutton Coldfield who might want to dust off their dancing shoes let them know!

Thanks to generous funding from Sutton Coldfield NNS we have also been successful in a funding application which will enable us to run tea dances throughout 2024 in Sutton Coldfield which will be FREE of charge. It certainly is time to dust off your dancing shoes! More information to follow.

Keep Dancing Harborne

Our Harborne class will no longer be funded after June, meaning the class fee will return to its original rate of £5.50. We feel fortunate to have offered free classes for a year and a reduced price for six months. We hope you can continue to support us beyond June; your ongoing support will be greatly appreciated.

Keep Dancing West Bromwich

Keep Dancing West Bromwich has been one of our most recent classes to launch and has welcomed many people to the class. After a short break the class will restart on Wednesday 4th October, 11:30 -12:30 at West Bromwich Leisure Centre.

The class has been supported by The National Lottery which mean the class is heavily subsidized and will just be £2. You will still need to book your place each week and can do so here

Keep Dancing Garretts Green & Acocks Green

As you may or may not be aware the classes are currently funded by YNNS and have been for Garretts Green for the last two years.

The YNNS funding will cease on Monday 11th December. Thanks to funding the class has been able to run for FREE. Whilst we have other funding applications out awaiting approval/disapproval we would like to continue the Garretts Green and Acocks Green class in January. However, whilst we wait on funding applications we will have to charge £5.50 for Keep Dancing Acocks Green and £4 for Keep Dancing Garretts Green in order to keep the classes running.

I appreciate this is certainly a huge increase for you in terms of costs. If we are successful with our funding applications (please do cross everything) we will be able to reduce the cost of the classes to £2 in the near future.

In the interim, your support would be greatly appreciated to help keep the classes running.     You will of course be updated with any news.

Thank you for your continued support.

Keep Dancing from Home

Keep Dancing From Home classes continue to run on Zoom. Our Wednesday 09:30-10:30 class will teach you the same routines that you are learning in our face to face Keep Dancing classes to make sure you don’t miss a step if one week you cant attend your usual Keep Dancing class.

Our Wednesday class will also become the class where we welcome people who are carers to dance with us online as part of our Keep Dancing for Carers project. If you dance with us regularly online or use the class as an alternative if you cannot make your usual Keep Dancing class you are still VERY welcome to join us.

If you know anyone with caring responsibilities who would be able to access our online class please do let them know!

On a Friday our Keep Dancing Greatest Hits class will recap dances that have been taught in precious months, so if you have a favourite routine that you would love to dance again watch out for the Greatest Hits dances.

Book here

Dates For Your Diary

January is a notoriously busy month for us so make sure to book classes early to avoid missing out. We look forward to seeing you all in the new year!

Keep Dancing for Carers Online will not run on Wednesday 24th January

Keep Dancing West Bromwich will not run on Wednesday 24th January

Xpress-YourELF

We hosted our annual Elf week (Xpress-YourELF) this week. For those who are unfamiliar with Elf week, we invite you to join us by dressing up as an elf along with the other participants in your Keep Dancing class to help us raise donations for the Alzheimer’s Society and awareness of people living with Dementia. Since we started Elf week in 2018 together across our Keep Dancing classes we have raised an incredible £3000.

You can donate here.

Take a look at all of our dancing elves here!

Our Keep Dancing Harborne elves

And another one!

Our Keep Dancing Aldridge elves striking a pose

Our wonderful Keep Dancing for Carers elves

Our Keep Dancing Garretts Green elves looking dashing as always!

Our Keep Dancing Sheldon elves are ready for the holidays!

Our Keep Dancing Shirley elves looking dazzling in red and green

And One More!

Loving the jingle bell slippers

Faye with the man himself!

Keep Dancing Christmas Party 2023

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Christmas party at Solihull Methodist Church on Sunday 3rd December. It is always particularly heart warming seeing dancers from other classes come together and your support is greatly appreciated.

We were treated to a wonderful Christmas singalong with Samantha Oxborough Mezzo Soprano. Samantha sang the national anthem at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, only the best for our dancers!

Watch some of the fun we had here.

We would love to see more of you at our events next year so any feedback to why you didn’t attend would be greatly appreciated. If you have two minutes please complete our Keep Dancing Events Feedback form to help us with our future event planning here.

New Project: Keep Dancing for Carers!

Inspired by Keep Dancing participants stories of caring for loved ones and Keep Dancing classes being their happy hour of the week and opportunity to look after their own health and wellbeing, we are delighted that Forward Carers CIC has funded our Keep Dancing for carers project.

Two classes will run, one in person and one online for carers. Both classes will include time for coffee and a chat after each class, with support services coming in to share what support is on offer. If you know carers who may benefit from this Free Keep Dancing class please let them know.

We will also implement a downloadable Keep Dancing for Carers class, for those who are unable to make our classes in person. This will be a half hour pre-recorded online class, accessed through a link sent via email. Starting at once a month, this could become a regular opportunity so stay tuned.

What makes someone a carer? You or someone you know could classify as a carer without realising. Take a look at this article by Forward Carers CIC to gain a better understanding of what it means to be a carer.

New Project: Keep Dancing for Carers Downloadable Class!

We are excited to announce our brand new FREE pre-recorded downloadable class for carers. A monthly half hour session for those unable to join us for our online or in-person carer classes, but don’t want to miss out on the dancing.

The videos have been recorded in both a standing and seated capacity, just choose the one which works for you.

After booking the class, you will receive a link via email to download the video. The link will expire within 7 days.

Here at Xpress-Yourself Dance CIC we support carers. If you feel like you need additional support or advice we can make a referral to Birmingham Carers Hub. Please do just get in touch with us, we are happy to help.

New Project: Let’s Dance!

Thanks to generous funding from Edgbaston NNS, in May we will be launching our first inclusive dance class for adults aged 18-49. Like all our classes, places will be limited so booking will be essential.

Support us when you shop online

You will be unsurprised to hear that room hire for many of our groups has recently increased. We are keen to not increase our prices for Keep Dancing classes but we do ask for your support. 

If you are partial to a little bit of online shopping you can support Xpress-Yourself Dance CIC every time you shop. We are now registered with easyfundraising, which means you can help us for FREE. Over 4,000 shops and sites will donate to us when you use easyfundraising to shop with them – at no extra cost to yourself! All you need to do is sign up and remember to use easyfundraising whenever you shop online. It’s easy and completely FREE! These donations really will mount up and ensure that we can continue to run classes where you book by the week, and not by the month, with no price increase so please sign up to support here  

So far £42.32 has been raised. This money will be used towards a monthly hall hire at one of our nine venues.  Thank you to everyone who has signed up to support us and have been online shopping with us in mind, your support is greatly appreciated. 

New Merchandise!

Our new motto as seen above is now featured on what could be your very own mug. The perfect gift for the favourite dancer in your life or a nice little treat for yourself. 

Mugs are £10 inclusive of postage and packaging 
(Items are sent 2nd class recorded delivery) 

Mugs are ceramic white and are the motto is printed on both sides of the mug. Dishwasher and microwave friendly. 

If you would like to order one please visit our website 



Sweatshirts are also now available to order.

The sweatshirt is grey, lightweight with raglan sleeves and has gorgeous embroidery. 

£24 inclusive of postage and packaging 
(Items are sent 2nd class recorded delivery) 

We have the following sizes in stock and ready for immediate dispatch. 

Size 12 – QTY 3
Size 14  – SOLD OUT
Size 16 – SOLD OUT
Size 18  – QTY 2

Should you require another size please get in touch and we can get ordered for you. 

If you would like to order one please visit our website Buy Now

Thank you for your support

During these unprecedented times we have been so grateful for your continued support. Whether that be continuing to interact with our Facebook page, leaving us reviews, telling your friends about our classes and booking onto our Keep Dancing classes. Your support is truly appreciated and we hope to continue keep dancing into the future. 

If you have the time please ;

Leave us a Facebook Review here

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel 
 click here

Follow us on Instagram @xpre55your5elfdance

Increasing our social following will certainly help us rebuild our small business as we go into 2024.

Thank you so much!



January Keep Dancing Dances

Dances for January will be a Rumba and a musical theatre number to ‘Me Ol Bamboo’  – if you have a hat bring it with you! 

Greatest Hits dances will be Bollywood and Ballet.

Blog! 5 Benefits of Ceilidh Dancing

Discover 5 ways Ceilidh dancing can improve your mental and physical health here.



If you would like the opportunity to be a guest blogger and feature in our newsletter. Get in touch!

We love to boogie!

The Xpress-Yourself Team