A vital Bognor Regis comedy club set up to help people learn life skills recently welcomed Health Lottery funding. Called the Bognor Regis Institute of Laughter. It’s been a great few years for the comedy club, not least because of the recognition they have across Sussex and the important support they receive from the Making Theatre Gaining Skills programme. Their goal is to teach people a variety of life skills, not just comedy, to help them get on in life. There is a particularly strong focus on helping them gain confidence and life skills to improve their employment prospects.
About the Bognor Regis Comedy Club
it is a time where employment is growing but many long-term unemployed have been out of the loop for too long. The problem for many is that the skills they had even five years ago are no longer relevant. The workplace has changed since the economic turndown. It is down to social enterprises and local groups to help people grow employability skills. That is where the Bognor Regis comedy club comes in. But the skills that the services users learn are not about learning to tell a joke, or even acting. They are involved at every step of the production backstage such as marketing and organisation.
Many of the Bognor Regis comedy club users have depression or social anxiety due to long-term unemployment. The great is that while many join for something to do and to learn those valuable life skills, some find a career. It’s a mark of success that some participants now want to enter acting as a career while others take their behind the scenes skills into new roles. Social enterprises like this are vital and through the Health Lottery, you are helping them to help others. In a work environment that demands flexibility, this Bognor Regis comedy club is teaching it.