July Cover Story

Our member Ryan is on the front cover singing into a microphone. He is smiling. Karaoke discos are back!

Hi Ryan! You’ve officially been a member since 2021 but you’ve been coming to ATIK, karaoke disco for years – what have been your favourite nights?

My favourite nights are the ATIK (now Hype) Get2gether nights. I especially love the themed nights at Christmas and Halloween.  Karaoke nights are also great fun too. It’s so exciting that the next Karaoke disco on 21st July at Wallyford, I’m hoping to be there. 

What do you love about get2gether events? Are they important to you?

What I love is meeting up with all of my friends, and I also like to chat with new people too. It is important to me, as it gives me a bit of independence to do the things that I enjoy. 

How do you enjoy spending your time? 

I enjoy going to Upward Mobility 3 days a week to attend my workshops of art and music. On my days off, I attend an art group every Tuesday evening with The Maple Project. On Wednesday evenings I attend Enable for indoor football and bingo / karaoke, and the disco on Saturdays. On Thursday evenings I go to Orcadia. I also enjoy going to the cinema, bowling and shopping with my mum, and meeting up with friends for days out.

Can you tell me about some of your best friends? Who are they and how did you meet and get to know them?

I have lots of nice friends. I met Jodie, Rebecca, Laurence and Tommy at the Art Group I go to, so we have all been friends for just over 10 years now. My newest friends are Franco and Philip. I met Franco at the ATIK nights out with get2gether, plus we have a lot of mutual friends and we try to meet up regularly to have a day out somewhere nice and have lunch. And Philip and I have been friends for about a year. We met through our mutual friend Jodie, and we also like to meet up and do something nice when we are both free. 

What’s your karaoke song? 

My karaoke song would be something from the 1980’s or any Elvis Presley song. Listening to music makes me feel happy, and singing in front of everyone helps my confidence! I love karaoke.