The Roses team participated in a training session conducted by Brian from Gig Buddies Gloucestershire, an initiative enabling people with learning disabilities to lead the life they want. The session offered invaluable insight into how we can better support our customers and communities, ensuring a more inclusive and welcoming environment. The staff team all came away from the session with some additional knowledge and, we are happy to say, The Roses was awarded the first Gig Buddies Inclusive Venue in Gloucestershire.

The idea behind Gig Buddies is to enable people with learning disabilities and/or autism to enjoy all the great things happening in their community, especially live music, by being paired with a local gig-goer who is happy to support them at the gig. The goal is to make volunteering more accessible for people by allowing volunteers to attend gigs they already enjoy, but with a buddy who has a learning disability. This way, they share their passions and can fit volunteering around their other commitments.

Our training session featured in Gig Buddies Gloucestershire's first-ever magazine. The feature celebrated Gig Buddy Beth’s recent visit during Shape of You, an Ed Sheeran tribute show. Beth then wrote a glowing review of her experience at the event saying, “The Roses is a really friendly venue and they do so many things and concerts.” More of Beth’s review can be found in the magazine.

Meg, The Roses’ Community Producer said: “We are thrilled to be a feature venue in the first edition of the Gig Buddies Gloucestershire magazine! The training Brian gave was very interesting and useful and we are proud to be a space that everyone can feel comfortable using. Gig Buddies is a great initiative, and we want to encourage more people to get involved and enjoy live events together!”

We take immense pride in being awarded a Gig Buddies inclusive venue and look forward to welcoming more Gig Buddies in the future. Read more about our training and Beth’s review in the Gig Buddies Gloucestershire magazine. We will also have some physical copies of the magazine at the start of June if you would like to pick up a copy.

If you would like to find out more about volunteering with Gig Buddies, click here.

Read the Gig Buddies magazine here.