OUR recent call-out for memories of Bradford’s dance hall days prompted Garth Cawood to get in touch with these lovely photos of his parents, who were Yorkshire ballroom champions.
In the early 1950s, Ernest Page and Dulcie Burton taught ballroom dancing at Bradford venues including the Tudor Cafe Ballroom at Dudley Hill, the Gaiety Dance Hall and the Textile Hall in Westgate. As Yorkshire Professional Dance Champions, they also performed professional demonstrations throughout the North.
Dulcie was the mother of Garth, a music promoter and former DJ, and Ernest was his stepfather.
“They entered professional dance competition at places like Blackpool Tower and other famous venues,” says Garth. “I still meet people who they taught to dance.
“They ran the Tudor Cafe Ballroom at Dudley Hill and gave dance lessons there, and they also had classes at The Gaiety Ballroom on Tyrel Street and entered dance competitions all over the country.
“I remember as a boy going to both Blackpool Tower and the Winter Gardens with them when they become Yorkshire Professional Dance Champions. They turned more to giving demonstrations all over; some of the local places and names I can remember are The Ritz Ballroom in Brighouse, The Majestic in Bradford, Kings and Queens, the Gaumont, the Gaiety, Textile Hall, Conought Rooms, Fountains Hall (at Busbys), the Co op Hall, Lake Keens in Shipley and many more I can’t remember.
“It all led me into my profession, by playing the record’s for dancing at the Tudor in about 1954. So far as we ever found out, I was the first DJ in Bradford. I also met The Dingos (Bradford band that Garth later joined) when they were a skiffle group and came to rehearse at the Tudor. Small world.”
Beverley Holland recalled her parents going to dance nights at the Gaiety. “As a child I used to love watch my mum getting ready, she had some glamorous sparkly dresses, and I think she sometimes wore a wig which she kept on a stand on her dressing-table. When they were ready, my mum and dad would set off for the bus stop looking a million dollars. They loved their weekly dance nights and had lots of friends there.”
Other readers have been sharing ballroom memories on the T&A’s We Grew Up in Bradford Facebook page. Here are some of them:
Andy Shewan recalls: “Bert Shutts dance hall was where my mum and dad met.”
Kevin Noble remembers Harmony Ballroom: “Once the Europa, also Milton Rooms which, after a fire, became Tandem.”
Danuta Nowakowska recalled Manningham dance hall the Mecca: “Mecca on Sunday nights was a cheap thrill night out, dancing in front of a live band.”
Lesley Broxholme: “I think my mum and dad must have gone dancing at some time in their early years together, I remember my dad had a pair of patent leather dancing shoes.”
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