Yesterday was a beautiful day. In the early afternoon I felt like taking a long walk; Dominic wanted to watch sport. Walking two dogs is a chore, so I decided to take Tess on her own with me. Eva could keep Dominic company and watch the sport too.!!! We set off and finally reached the Wallace Park. I sat down on one of the seats and watched the children paying on the swings, etc. There were loads of young parents with their children and I enjoyed listening to the squeals of laughter as they played.

To be continued in case this turns into SPAM.

Well, that posting got through so I'll continue.

I decided to move on and as I approached the bandstand I could hear music. I made my way up and there was an accordion band playing. A small crowd was there and I joined them in the sun. Tess sat obediently beside me. The music was absolutely brilliant and I had a thoroughly enjoyable 2 hours just sitting there. The tunes were everything from the 1940s and earlier I suppose up to the 1960s. "Goodnight, Irene". "Que Sera Sera". "Toora loora loora", everything. I knew them all and joined in singing. I rang Dominic to tell him what he was missing. He wasn't in the least interested and asked if I wanted a lift home. I told him I certainly did not.

To be continued.

I haven't enjoyed an afternoon so much in a very long time. Apparently, every Sunday during the summer a band plays in the park for a couple of hours. I could kick myself for being unaware of this. If I had had a partner I would most definitely have got up for a dance. The band played Moonlight Saunters, Pride of Erin waltzes, Gay Gordons, Quicksteps - you name it. My feet tapped away the whole time.

After the band finished, Tess and I walked on out of the park and headed up the Belsize Road, finally reaching Kirkwood's Road. At the end of Kirkwood's Road there is a fair hill to be climbed so at this point I did ring Dominic for a lift. I was starving anyhow and couldn't wait to get home and cook the dinner, which was prepared before I left.

I must have walked near enough 3 miles and didn't feel a bit tired nor am I today.

That was my Sunday. Watched The Mill later on and that was it. Exciting or what!!!!!!!

Ann, That sounded like a real enjoyable day and reminded me of some of the walks I used to take on a Sunday especially after being out on the town the night before???. I can only remember one occasion when the bandstand had a live band playing, I think it was Lisburn Silver and that would have been away back in 1949 when I was on leave and I believe Leslie Corkin was the conductor. Mauri

Ann
reminds me of the joke about a small boy from New York was visiting his relations in Lisburn. The uncle took him for a walk in the Wallace Park. The boy said " Gee Oinkel, listen to the Boids"! The uncle said , " Those are Birds not Boids"! The boy answered " Gee Oinkel they choips like Boids"!
donald

Hi all,

I remember bands playing in parks all over Nr. Ireland, otherwise why bandstands.

Nice music sooths the soul. Remember the big bands in their heyday & before, like the Showbands, etc.? The best band I ever heard was the Kilfinora Ceili Band, it could talk!!!

Of course we must not forget the Maestro, Andre Rieu.

Pat

I loved the swing bands; in fact, I still do. Glenn Miller, Joe Loss, Benny Goodman - all those bands were great for dancing and listening. I loved Chris Barber too, still like jazz. Must be gettin' old. NEVER!!!!!

Ann and Pat,

I don't think you ever get too old for Glenn Miller, I learned to Ballroom Jive to "In The Mood" at the Sammy Osborne school, his partner Peggy was my teacher.

Beano

Beano, Where was the Sammy Osbourne school,? I remember at night school in the Belfast Post Office in Royal Avenue we sometimes were distracted by dancing school learners on the other side of the Avenue as we could seen right into the studio, for the life of me I can't remembr the name of the school. Mauri

Beano, "snap". I learned to dance at Sammy Osborne's studio too as I'm sure you've read before. 69 High Street, Belfast. "The Golden Room". I loved it.

Mauri, Sammy Osborne's Dance Studio was near the Albert Clock and was my favourite haunt in the late 50s until I married in 1961. I missed it very much for a long time afterwards as Dominic had no interest in dancing at that time. We even went there on Christmas night.

Beano, what years did you dance at Osborne's. I, too, remember Peggy Dullaghan very well. Her younger sister was at the cash desk, a nice girl too. Peggy and Sammy were always falling out and someone else had to stand in as a partner for Peggy when this happened. It was usually a girl called Betty Massey whose partner was called Stuart. You may remember them too.

Sadly, Sammy, Peggy and their son, Tony, are all now deceased. I think Sammy in later years had an alcohol problem as did Peggy and their son. Terrible pity. At one time Sammy and Peggy were 4th in the World Championships. No mean feat for Belfast dancers.

Beano, do you remember Tommy the doorman? He was dressed for the part in his dark suit with gold coloured epaulettes.

Those were the days.

I mentioned it here before that some years ago I was participating in a seminar in a hotel in the Black Forest and the owners were a couple who were also international dancers who also held dancing classes in their hotel. They told me they competed in London against Sammy Osborne and also mentioned the name Leckey who was also from NI and taught dancing. The lady told me her first love was a boy from Ireland before she met her husband.
donald

Another blast from the past = Didn´t John Dosser also have a dance school in Belfast ?
donald

Donald, I never heard that story before. Sammy was a brilliant dancer. He wasn't very tall either, which could have been a handicap in the world of dancing, but obviously it wasn't for him. I mean, he was of average height for a male dancer whereas nowadays it's the taller dancers who are more in demand.

I know there was another dance teacher by the name of Leckey, but I didn't know any of the others except for the late Cecil Clarke, who also ran a dance class in the Club Orchid.

In more recent years and up until his death, and even afterwards, we attended his school of dancing in Donegall Street. I think the Clarke School of Dancing is the only studio left in Belfast.

Donald, John Dosser was before my time, but some others may know about his school of dance.

Ann, John Dosser was the name of the dance studio in Royal Avenue opposite the General Post Office that I was trying to think about, and yes it would have been before your time as I am talking about 1944 and 1945.???. Mauri

Hi Ann,

Your recollections are spot on for me. I remember Betty Massey well, she was a real sweetheart and always had time for everyone. The girl at the cash desk was a girl called Mavis, when we went to Osborne's, she had red hair. I do remember "Admiral" Tommy at the door, he worked in Robert Watson's in Donegall St. We danced at Sammy's studio 1954/55 and then went to Neely's in Ann St.above the Whitehall restaurant, opposite the Capstan lounge that was 1956. Then it was on to Tommy McCarthy's 1957 in Royal Avenue opposite the the Regent picture house it was also called "Tudor Hall", I met Doreen there in October of that year. From 1958 till we got married 1961 it was Saturdays only, then it was mostly the Fiesta, Orpheus and the odd party dance at the Plaza.
I loved the bands at the dance halls, Johnny Quigley Showband, Dave Glover, Fred Hanna, Brian Rossi also the Wintnesses.
All great memories, by the way John Dosser was still around in the early 60s.

Beano

I remember when attending the "Big Tech" in Belfast 1962 for a trade scholarship in the Plaza at lunch time there was a " Sixpenny Hop"! As it´s name suggests it was a lunch time dance and cost Sixpence entry. Lots of office workers and students attended as did quite a lot of "millies" as we unkindly named the girls who worked in the mills then. Jiving at lunch time, what a treat that was.
donald

Donald, I was one of those office girls who attended the Lunchtime Hop in the Plaza. My late brother, Malachy, also used to dance there in his lunchbreak. I worked in the Irish News Office and we had an unbelievable one and a half hours lunchbreak. Dominic worked in an office just up the road at Carlisle Circus and he and I would go together. A diet of chips was the menu on the days we danced, bought inside the Plaza and accompanied by a soft drink. This was gulped down as quickly as possible so that we could get on the floor and jive away to Fats Domino, Elvis, Chuck Berry and all the rest. Brilliant time.

Beano, you just missed me in Osborne's by a year. I started dancing there in 1956, same time as I commenced working in the Irish News. Another girl in the office danced in Osborne's and I decided to go too.

Beano, do you remember Sadie Mallon and Albert Bell, who were tango champions and also danced at Osborne's. They competed in the All Ireland a few times or more. The girl I worked with was Sadie Mallon's younger sister.

Beano, I only met Tommy McCarthy in his later years. Dominic and I were out dancing one evening. After the dance this man called us over to his table. He introduced himself as Tommy McCarthy and asked me if I had been a pupil of Sammy Osborne's. I told him I had been and he said he could tell that by the way I danced. He was a lovely man and told us that he, in fact, had taught Sammy Osborne. He still looked the part on the dancefloor even thought he was overweight by this time. That was a while ago and I don't know if he's still alive. Small world, especially in NI.

Beano, as I said before, I didn't go to dances at all, just Osborne's. Maybe the fact that Dominic didn't dance then would have a big bearing on it. It takes two to tango. He could jive a bit, but wasn't interested in ballroom dancing. I later knocked that notion out of him and he can now trip the light fantastic as well as anyone else.

Beano, once a dancer always a dancer. Do you agree?

Hi Ann,

Yes, once a dancer always a dancer. Me I wasn't that good at it, I did enjoy it though. Now, Bobby Chambers was an excellent dancer he represented McCarthy's in the Autumn trophy, at the time that was the top amateur competition in Ireland. Sadie Mallon and Albert Bell I remember well, I remember them in a competition at the Plaza, also competing were Jim Neill and Anne Collins. Jim was from Sloan St. a good Lisburn man and Anne was from the Oldpark road in Belfast, some of our contributors will remember Jim as a "Football Referee".
Sammy Osborne and Tommy McCarthy were both coached by John Dosser in High St.. I can remember the night Sammy and Peggy got 4th.in the World Championship in Blackpool. That night Bill and Bobby Irvine won the overall title, did you know that Sammy and Peggy won the Foxtrot part that night?.
Now Ann, I can hardly walk never mind dance, however I did enjoy it while I was fit,I still follow the competitions on TV, I am a bit of an armchair judge and have fun with that.
If you bump into Bobby Chambers again give him my best wishes, we had a lot of good times together.

Beano

Beano, I was at that competition in the Plaza. Sadie Mallon and Albert Bell were dancing the tango and I was with Sadie's sister. The competition went on to maybe 1 o'clock in the morning. However, I had to get the last train or bus home to Lisburn so knew I would miss a fair bit of the competition. I did, however see Sadie and Albert dance the tango that night.

When Sammy Osborne saw me getting ready to leave, he said that there were Lisburn people there who had a car. He said he would ask if they would give me a lift home and I could then stay until the end. of the night. I knew these people, who came from the Low Road and were there to support Sadie and Albert, one of the women being a work colleague.

I waited and eventually Sammy came back. He said they had no room for me. At that time I didn't think anything of it and I just hurried on for the last train. I only realised later that there would have been room in their car and I never, ever forgot that snub. The woman was a nobody who thought she was somebody because she worked in a large store in Royal Avenue. She is now dead but I still remember that night and the refusal to give a 16 or 17 year old girl a lift home to Lisburn.

Some things you can't forget and for me that's one of them.

Beano, I'm not surprised that Sammy and Peggy won the Foxtrot. Every dancer has their own "best" dance and that must have been theirs. I know that Sammy taught me how to do a whisk in the Foxtrot. No other teacher ever taught that. One time we were attending a competition in the South of Ireland. We were there with the Clarke School of Dancing and Sammy Osborne was a judge.
We weren't competing but were there as supporters of another couple.

As Sammy entered the hotel, I, cheekily enough, went over and introduced myself as having been a member of his dancing school in the 50s and early 60s. He hadn't changed a bit and still reminded me of the comedian Dickie Henderson. He said he remembered my face (I don't believe it for a minute) and I asked him if he had taught a whisk in the foxtrot, as it was something no other teacher had ever taught. Sometimes I thought I had imagined it. He not only confirmed this but demonstrated the step there and then. I loved seeing him that night, glad I spoke to him and Peggy (and their son, Tony) because I never saw any of them again.

Hi all,

My cousin & I went to John Dossor Dancing School in High St. Belfast in the 50's. Every Saturday afternoon for 2 hours & it was brilliant, I too loved dancing, but unfortunately fell for a non-dancer, so my dancing days were practically over, bar the odd Parish Dance in St. Joseph's Hall.

Dossor was a tall man with a monocle & slicked back black hair, very like a 20's man, dressed in an evening suit always. He was very strict about tempo & always played Victor Sylvester records. Once 2 young ones started to jive in the quickstep & he put them out. He was a good teacher but when his private life got bad publicity we were not allowed to go back to the classes.

Parents ruled in those days. Personally I found the man very prim & proper at the classes. His private life was his own as far as I was concerned. Youth see bad in no one. Wonder what happened to him.?

Pat

Dancing teachers took their profession quite seriously in those days. I remember at Sammy Osborne's School, no female dancer was allowed to wear trousers or tight skirts. Our skirts had to be flared to allow for movement. We also were advised to wear dancing shoes for better footwork.

We did what we were told too and just look at the perfect specimens we turned out to be!!!!!!!!!!!

As a somewhat late contributor on the subject,I was never what you would call a great dancer, I did take lessons in a dance studio in
Sydney I think I paid one pound per hour untill I got tired of it this was sometime in 1953 when I was stationed at the Torpedo &
Asdic school in Rushcutter's Bay in Sydney, much later in the 60s I did go to a couple of dances in the Orange Hall in Railway Street which I found kind of dull or maybe it was just me. Alhoa. Mauri

Mauri, you don't have to be a great dancer. Our old teacher used to say that someone doing very basic steps well, and with a good carriage and good rhythm, looked 100 times better than somebody doing lots of steps and moving badly. Nowadays, on the very odd occasion that I get to dance, we just do basic steps but try and do them well.

Cecil Clarke told us that he was judging a competition once. He said that not one couple was in time with the music. Disregarding the steps and routines, he said he would have given first prize to anyone who danced in time to the music. No-one did and no-none won. Just dancing in time to the music is everything. Big routines and fancy footwork are not important, except for professionals. Much better to enjoy the music and enjoy the dance in an effortless way.

I remember one time going to a social or dance I'm not sure which in the Hall on Linenhall Street, I was 19 at the time and on leave so I was in uniform, I was trying to do an old fashioned dance with a youg girl which was kind of fast and required turns in different directions in trying to do so I tripped over my bell bottoms and went on my A---, talk about being embarrased, my partner was not amused either?????. Mauri