PAM and Peter are throwing shapes on the dancefloor, Sam and George are snogging in a corner and Steve has had a little too much to drink: it's a typical night out in Oxford.

The difference is, every one of these punters is disabled – and so is the DJ.

Welcome to StingRay: Oxford's dedicated nightclub for people with disabilities.

The club night, held every month at Plush Lounge in Park End Street, is run by trustees from Oxfordshire disability campaign group My Life My Choice.

The club was founded in 2007 by charity members who were so frustrated with the lack of late-night social opportunities in the city, they decided to set up their own club.

Ten years on, StingRay attracts 100 keen clubbers every month.

What's more, its socially inclusive merits have just won it £4,800 from the annual Aviva Awards to keep it going strong.

The money may be used to buy a new set of decks for the DJ, or on promotion and marketing to attract even more dancers.

The clubbers don't much mind either way: they are going to keep boogying on down to StingRay whatever.

Charity trustee Paul Scarrott says: "It gives people the courage to go out at night and enjoy themselves.

"Sometimes people with learning disabilities stay at home because they've been bullied: StingRay is a safe place for them to have fun and make friends."

The charity's vice-chairman and a regular clubber Dawn Wiltshire agrees: as a person with a disability, she says, going to a regular nightclub is not always a lot of fun.

"StingRay is somewhere for people with learning disabilities to go: if you went to a normal nightclub you would feel left out.

"We get everything you normally get at a nightclub – people falling out with boyfriends and girlfriends, people making new ones..."

Miss Wiltshire, 57, who lives in Yarnton, said the music of choice is almost always drum 'n' bass, with a few 80s classics thrown in.

Punters pay £5 to get in and carers get in free.

The cover charge helps pay for the bouncers on the door – not that there is usually any trouble, Miss Witlshire hastily adds.

All of these details are overseen by the StingRay management team – four trustees from My Life My Choice.

Team member Shaun Picken says: "For me it's all about the people: I love working as a team to put on the night club."

Support worker Alice Fixsen told My Life My Choice: "I think it's the best social event that exists for people with learning disabilities in Oxfordshire, so thanks for all your hard work organising and running it."

The next StingRay night is booked for Tuesday, January 31.

Catch the fever at mylifemychoice.org.uk/get-involved/stingray-club