Keymer Hall Brings the Music to Burgess Hill’s Spring Tea
On Thursday 30th April, Keymer Hall by Boutique Care Homes was proud to sponsor the entertainment at Burgess Hill Town Council’s Spring Tea Party, held at Kings Weald Community Centre.
46 local residents came along for an afternoon of food, tea, and live music from Keziah. Her performance of “New York, New York” brought the room to life, with legs kicking under tables and a few people up on their feet. It was one of those unscripted moments that makes an event.
Helen Lewis, Lifestyle and Wellbeing at Keymer Hall, was there to see it first-hand. “When Keziah played ‘New York, New York’ and people started singing along, some of them up on their feet, that was the moment for me. That’s what life enrichment looks like. It doesn’t have to happen inside our walls. Seeing that joy in the community, and knowing we helped make the afternoon possible, felt really fitting for what we’re about.”
The Keymer Hall team arrived while the council’s community team were still setting up, getting banners and leaflets in place ahead of guests arriving. Town Mayor Stuart Condie welcomed the room and set a warm tone for the afternoon. Nine local organisations joined the day, including Age UK, U3A, HILS, MSOPC, Places Leisure, WSCC Prevention Assessment Teams, and Burgess Hill Creative Community. P&S Gallagher provided gift bags for every attendee, each containing a quiz book, pen, and cookie.
Speed networking gave attendees and organisations six minutes at each table to connect. The Keymer Hall team met people who had already visited the home’s Spring Fling, one gentleman who had attended the Keymer Hall stroke club, and plenty who were hearing about the home for the first time.
Events like this matter for reasons that go well beyond a pleasant afternoon out. Loneliness and social isolation among older people is one of the most pressing, and most under-discussed, health issues in the UK. The impact on physical and mental wellbeing is real and well-documented, yet the answer is often surprisingly simple: a room, a cup of tea, a familiar face, and someone to talk to. Afternoons like this one bring people out of their homes, connect them with services they may not know exist, and remind them that the community around them is still very much alive. For Keymer Hall, that is not separate from what they do. It is exactly what they do.
Lisa Rose, Admissions Manager at Keymer Hall, summed up the day: “Being new to Burgess Hill, events like this are how you really find your feet in a community. You can put up a banner, but it’s the conversations over a cup of tea that actually mean something. We met so many lovely people, and a few of them already knew us, which was a nice surprise. We left feeling like we properly belong here.”
Keymer Hall looks forward to welcoming some of the new faces they met through their doors soon.
