The next outing was at the Carmel Hall, Ufton Lane, during the interval at a Travellers Dance, .. this was our first really public performance, the volume control was up, and the adrenalin flowing.. a hall full of teenagers was throbbing to our music... we knew then that we had arrived!
The next few appearances were again during intervals at either the Travellers, or the Rebounds dances, and we learnt a lot from watching them, improving our repertoire, image, presentation, and equipment.
The next step was arranging our own dances...Hiring a hall, the soft drinks and snacks, bouncers and ticket sales (hopefully) or pay at the door... (at 3/6d ..or 18p entry charge, we were never going to make a fortune, but we could dream...)
Halls that we used for our own dances in Sittingbourne were, in no particular order:-
The Carmel hall
The Trinity hall
The Town hall
Then at village halls (now Community Centres) in the surrounding area, again in no particular order:-
Tunstall
Borden
Bobbing
Stockbury
Lenham
Milsted
Doddington
Newnham
Teynham
Iwade
Then at various events sponsored by others at:-
The Cedars
Bowater's Clubhouse
Bapchild
Faversham
Chalkwell Rd club
Sheerness club
APCM Hall, Murston
Borden Grammar School
University of Kent, Canterbury
Invicta Ballroom, Chatham
Paget Hall, Gillingham
Vanity Holiday Camp, Leysdown
No doubt I've missed a few, and if anyone remembers an early venue I've forgotten, please email me and I'll add it, but this gives an idea of the popularity of the group at that time.
On the next page I'll give a few of the memories I have of some of these dances,... again, if anyone can add something significant, .. email and I'll add it.. (But if it involves teenage love reminiscences, I may need to edit slightly...sorry, I'll try not to).
Early Repertoire
Instruments
Photos
Photos Continued
Memories
Copyright & Legal
Update 2008