How could I have forgotten the Llandudno festival, in that huge conference hall with a dance floor that was second to none. Llandudno was the very best excuse for every female  to spend weeks of serious retail therapy preparing a months clothes for a week away. It was the place to be seen and no lady ever wore the same outfit twice, so that meant at least three outfits for every day you were there.

We stayed in a big hotel along the road from the conference centre, so a brolly was an essential. Our hotel had three or four stars but our attic bedrooms were so small one person needed to sit on the bed whilst the other moved around to wash or get dressed. One year the weather was so bad we could not hear ourselves speak as the rain rain battered down on the roof but in the evening we were so tierd we used the waste bin to catch the drips from the skylight and then slept so soundly we never heard the thunder and lightening storm outside.

I cannot remember the name of the hotel but, it did have a ballroom in the basement, danceball and all. For those who still wanted more dancing it was down there we danced until the early hours.

In those days Audrey Bromage danced with Ron Lane and then later with her daughter, all great dancers. I remember Doreen Waring and Graham Crooks presenting a Rumba and Doreen’s wonderful natural movements made us all want to move our bodies and dance like her. Alwin Leathley and Elsie Platts, who would go on to win elsewhere with the Carribean Foxtrot always joined up with Neil Marshall and Leslie  to keep us all entertained in between rounds. Great entertainers and great competitors because the minute they took their dance to the competition floor the comedy had gone and they were deadly serious dancers. Then there was the Holroyd’s, Margaret and Edwin Halliday and Don Milligan. Don was my secret love. Somehow he conjoured up images of a  Teddy Boy with sleeked hair, beetlecrushers and drape jacket as he stalked the floor with his fabulous modern tango’s. To round up the whole show were the dems, dancers at the top of their profession giving spectacular shows that left you breathless. Great days that are now precious memories.

I like reading the stories, keep it up.