Stuart Bird talks Topcats and supporting young people with additional needs
Stuart Bird, Palms Health and Fitness Club Operations Manager who leads some of our fitness and dance classes on Resort, also has his own dance school, Dance This Way. Through this he supports local Lowestoft charity, Topcats, and we caught up with him to find out more…
Stuart, can you tell us about Topcats?
Topcats is a charity that supports children and young people with additional needs based in Lowestoft. It supports people from the age of 0 to 30 years old and relies on fundraising to raise funds to support more young people.
How did you first start working with them?
My husband’s cousin, James, has severe autism and used to be supported by Topcats when he was younger so we know the valuable and important work they do for the youngsters and their families to offer some respite. We even had their trolley tokens as our wedding favours.
What work do you do with them now?
Me and Naomi, who is part of Dance This Way, teach a class every Tuesday afternoon for 18-25 year olds and they love it and are so happy when they are dancing. We are learning Shake Your Groove Thing, Uptown Funk and Thriller routines at the moment for a performance they are doing later in the year. We just held a summer ball over at Zest and raised over £1,000 for them and are hoping to hold another one later in the year. We held a charity raffle and game show too as part of the evening.
Thanks for letting us know about the work you do with Topcats Stuart. Bet they love the dance classes!
Some of the things that Topcats do are sensory, music therapy, messy activities and various sessions for different age groups.