A group of adults with mild and moderate learning disabilities formed a band after discovering they could use their love of music for a good cause.
After their most recent gig helped raise money for St Rotherham’s Hospice.
The band is aptly named “The Banned” and formed at Social Eyes Rotherham – a day provision for adults with mild and moderate learning disabilities.
Social Eyes Rotherham is a day service for adults with learning disabilities and autism. It’s a five day provision that hosts an array of activities – from fitness and exercise classes, craft groups for bespoke gifts, visual media groups, football groups and a newsletter group.
They also have the ‘Show Off’s’, which is a drama group who produce shows yearly and perform them to an audience, which Chelsea Jubb, team leader of The Banned said: “Is the most fantastic thing that we’ve got running in the service.”
However, The Banned has been taking up most of their time lately.
The Banned started off as a recreational group on a Saturday morning, just jamming along and having fun.
Staff at Social Eyes then decided that the group had more to offer, so increased rehearsal times and added in more gigs.
Miss Jubb said: “It’s just real good teamwork – that’s what The Banned is all about. We are just having fun with friends and it just so happens that they are all really good at it.”
When asked about the highlights of the service, Miss Jubb said: “We often joke as a staff team that you can’t really call it a job because everybody enjoys it so much. You don’t feel like you’re working because you’re having so much fun.”
The COVID pandemic highlighted the importance of services like Social Eyes and activities like The Banned. Miss Jubb said: “We noticed a massive change in COVID. We had to close as a service just like so many other people on the frontline.
Since COVID, we’ve really appreciated that social aspect, just being part of a team, being with their friends and just having fun. Mental health is obviously massively impacted. It’s inclusion and being part of something.”
In 2022, the Banned went on a Summer tour, playing six gigs in the space of a couple months and they are gearing up for another big Summer next year.
With plans to collaborate with local schools and keep performing in Rotherham, it won’t be the last we see of The Banned.
