Hoops and pies.

THE big news today----John Sergeant leaves Strictly Come Dancing, the hit BBC Saturday night programme! It ranked alongside news of ailing money markets, child cruelty and all other global disasters........But it did remind me of my dancing days, so long ago now (aaaahhhh!).

My friends and I used to attend the local village dances and I would run up my dresses for these affairs on my mothers sewing machine. To begin with mother made them, all very wide skirts and with very stiff, net underskirts. Eventually, when I had decided that I was too sophisticated for these "girl next door" types, I made my own straight skirted ones. The finish to the seams on the inside did not bear close scrutiny but as long as it held together I was satisfied.

Music was provided by a real live accordion 5 piece band and the dances were a mixture of Old Time -- Dashing White Sergeant, eightsome reel, Pride of Erin waltz etc. and Modern which consisted of quicksteps, modern waltzes, tangos (which in no way resembled that on THE programme)etc. We did jive but it was very,very basic, more like a jazzed-up waltz,and not all that popular!

December was the time for the BIG dances, run by the area Young Farmers Clubs. They were much grander, and formal wear was the order of the evening, the girls wearing short or long evening dresses with long gloves and stoles. My brother even had a pair of fine leather, dancing shoes! My father used to tell us of wearing white gloves in his youth, but that had passed by our time.

One year I had bought a short strapless dress with a hooped skirt, which brought its own problems. Between dances I leaned back, close to the wall, the hoop was pushed forward and upwards and most of my underwear was on show. The hoop was removed for later wear.

After the dance some of us made our way to Dooley Hutton's. He was a local baker and we would sit in our finery in his "kitchen" (I don't think they had much in the way of hygiene inspections) among the coal for the fire, eating pies which he had fished out of the oven for us, at two in the morning. I'm not very keen on Scotch pies but they tasted so good then.