MILL Race Activity Club celebrated 25 years of supporting vulnerable adults in Calne on Friday with a special birthday party.

Calne’s town mayor Howard Marshall visited the club at Marden House for the celebrations along with past members of staff and current customers, parents and carers.

The Mill Race, originally a charity in its own right but now run by Family Action, aims to help people to live an independent life and get them involved in the community through activities in and away from the Mill Race.

The party also included a special musical performance from members of the activity club who rehearse once a month with a music teacher.

Project manager, Anita Simes, has been at the Mill Race for 25 years and said: “There are lots and lots of memories for me, but the best memories will be Friday. It was the first time we were able to put the song together and for them to perform it, was wonderful.

“We support people and listen to what they want to do and learn to put interesting things in place for them. It’s a really important part of the service that they can meet their peers too. By coming here they then make those friends who they can see at weekends when we are not open, it’s really important there’s a service which brings people together.

“It brings people together and finds interesting activities for them, activities and opportunities they would be able to get involved in if they were say at home”

The activity club formed in 1990, in what was then a brand new building, Marden House. Although the building had only just been completed, and there were no real roads to or from it, staff moved in in October, desperate to get underway before Christmas.

Since 2004, the club, which is still based in Marden House, has been run by nationwide charity Family Action following a successful tender bid to Wiltshire Council to run the service.

Despite this major change, the charity continued to operate in the community, offering activities such as music, cookery and pottery and day trips to places like Avebury Manor and Malmesbury Abbey.

For more information on the work done by the club visit www.millraceactivityclub.org.uk