FOR ten years a regular community event has been helping older people in town stay social.

The Superjam Tea Parties run once a month at Holiday Inn, Dodworth, providing a dementia-friendly space where isolated, elderly people can make new friends, enjoy a hot meal and see some live entertainment.

This year the parties will celebrate their tenth anniversary and after all this time continue to go on stronger than ever, receiving constant praise.

The parties were established by freelance community consultant Kathy Markwick and general manager of Dodworth’s Holiday Inn Ann Kelly, who still organise the events to this day.

Kathy told the Chronicle: “We’re trying to make it extra special this year for our tenth anniversary.

“Obviously over the years we’ve lost some of our regular attendees, but we’re always getting new ones.

“I think it averages at about 100 people attending, but at Christmas we got around 200.

“People really enjoy it - it doesn’t start until 1pm but some people start arriving at midday.

“We would end at 3pm and people didn’t want to leave, so we’ve extended it while 4pm now.

“They all really look forward to it - after Covid we all know what it’s like not have something to look forward to, but some of these people are still living like that.

“It helps them get out and stay social.”

For their continued work, the Superjam Tea Parties have been nominated for the Love Where You Live award at this year’s Proud of Barnsley.

“It’s wonderful,” Kathy added.

“At the beginning we didn’t expect it to go on this long, but we’re so happy it has.

“Us organisers enjoy it just as much as the people who come for it.”