Dance club celebrates 40th anniversary
Dancers have shown off their steps on the dancefloor as they celebrate the 40th anniversary of their club.
Members of the JR Dance Club, based in Dudley, have come together to mark the landmark occasion.
It was a special moment for group founder Jack Rollason, aged 87, who started dancing more than 60 years ago.
The club regularly meet weekly Tuesday afternoons and the last Saturday each month for dance events at Russells Hall Youth and Community Centre, in Overfield Road.
But the group, which has around 40 members, also meet for social events, day trips out and holidays.
A meal was laid on for members at The Lodge, in Wellington Road, last Thursday after which they danced the evening away in celebration.
Mr Rollason, a retired engineer who lives on the Russells Hall estate, said he was delighted the group had reached the milestone.
"It was a brilliant event. They laid on a great meal and then we had a dance afterwards. It was great," said Mr Rollason who has four grand children and four great grand children.
"I have always liked dancing. It is a great group."
He started the group when he was a church warden at St Barnabas Church, in Russells Hall, and had been approached after a service to help teach a dance class.
Word spread and soon group numbers swelled after the years and also cater for less experienced dancers.
Mr Rollason's favourite dances including the foxtrot and sequence dancing but is less able to take to the dancefloor now due to illness.
Friend Doreen Round, 84, from Pensnett, joined the group four years ago and has since become Mr Rollason's dance partner.
She said: "It is a wonderful group. Everyone is very friendly and welcoming and they help show people the steps to dances."
Mr Rollason says he will stay involved with the group for as long as possible and still helps organise events and teach the moves.
