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dance halls

W

wendyP

master brummie
Does anyone remember a dance studios in the '60's somewhere in town called Bocker and Beckeridge? My friends went there but cant remember exactly here it was and its driving us all mad!
wendyP
 
Hi Wendy, Not sure about that one , but I used to go to one in Perry Barr in the late 50s and early 60s . Called Enid Goodwins, used to be on Birchfield Road and then moved to Livington Road. Had some great fun there .Any one else been to that one ?

Mike
 
1964

Bocker & Bettridge, school of dancing, Shaftesbury bldgs. 61 Station st 5.

mike​
 
Bocker & Bettridge was in Station St above a restaurant, you went up some quite steep wooden stairs paid 2s/6d? i think, there was a large dance floor were they gave the dance lessons and off it was smaii refreshment area, tea, coffee, soft drinks & bottled beer, Mr. Bocker would take the medal lessons, bronze, silver & gold, Mrs. Bocker (nee Bettridge) took the entrance fee, i went there circa 1966, there was always a nice friendly lot of people there when i went on a Wednesday. Len.
 
Hi Mike and Len,

At last we know where B&B was. Thank you so much. I am new to the Forum but now I know that theres so much knowledge out there, I will ask more questions.
WendyP
 
Hi Mike

Funny you mentioned Enid Goodwins. We had some friends round last night and they are ex Brummies living here in Suffolk. They were trying to remember the name of the dance they went to on Birchfield Road and now you have just supplied it! I will pass it on. Thank you.
WendyP
 
Hi everyone, I apologise for cutting in but I'm wondering if any of you could help me. I have exhausted myself on Google but cannot find any references to any famous Birmingham dance halls around in the 1930s-1940s. I am attempting to write a book you see about Birmingham around the Second World War and I'd like all the information I can get about small details so my writing seems fluid if you know what I mean. If you could help me I would be very much appreciated. I've gotten loads of information off this site already.

Thank you very much :)
 
Hi Natalie-Layton: Welcome to the forum. I would think a trip to the Birmingham Main Library would give you some leads on the main dance halls in Birmingham for the years you are researching. There are some references on this forum of members memories from such dance halls as Grand Casino Ballroom which was on Corporation Street, Amies Dance Academy on Chain Walk in Aston. I know of the Albert Hall in Witton Road, Aston, The Palais de Danse...not sure where that was. The Tower Ballroom, Edgbaston, Tony's Ballroom,Hurst Street owned by the Kirsch family, the West End Ballroom,
the Ritz Ballroom, Birmingham.
Members of this forum may know of others. Good luck with your research.
 
I have mentioned The Madam Amies before on another thread, it was in chain walk lozells, i used to go there when Sally was the teacher and a guy name Charlie, did any one else learn to dance there,
 
Smaller but just has important,(my parents met there:rolleyes:)
The Memorial hall, Whitehouse St.Aston.and a place called Stevo's in Newtown Row.
 
You can search Madam Amies, Chain Walk in the Search on the menu above.
Several members of this forum and their siblings learned to dance there including myself.
 
Thank you Jennyann, will take a look now to see what i can find out, but noone seems to have had sally who taught us the danceing, i know i havent imagined it because i named my daughter after her, ill keep on asking someone might remember her,
 
hi all
This isn't a dance hall question but does any one remember the name of a cinema in the Bristol Road not the Bristol, but it was half way down the Horse Fare I think, it had a cafe or resturaunt above it with a duke box which had a sort of TV on it???????? not far from Bristol Street motors.
regards
paul
 
Hi Paul

The location would fit the 'Cinephone' which showed a lot of foreign films.

I remember seeing The Wages of Fear there (in French).

That must of been in the fifties - when the Goons did 'The Fear of Wages'!
 
I remember the Cinephone and the up-market French-style coffee shop upstairs. It was waitress service and quite the in-place to take a girl-friend to impress in the 50's.
A group of us lads went in one evening and when the waitress took our order one of us pointed to the pictures in the menu and said "I'll have a lump of that cake" to which she replied "You mean a portion of that gateau, sir!"

We never took him back there after that.
 
jennyann said:
Hi Natalie-Layton: Welcome to the forum. I would think a trip to the Birmingham Main Library would give you some leads on the main dance halls in Birmingham for the years you are researching. There are some references on this forum of members memories from such dance halls as Grand Casino Ballroom which was on Corporation Street, Amies Dance Academy on Chain Walk in Aston. I know of the Albert Hall in Witton Road, Aston, The Palais de Danse...not sure where that was. The Tower Ballroom, Edgbaston, Tony's Ballroom,Hurst Street owned by the Kirsch family, the West End Ballroom,
the Ritz Ballroom, Birmingham.
Members of this forum may know of others. Good luck with your research.
Click to expand...
The Palais De Dance was in Monument Rd I think it was used for food storage during the war.and I guess most of the dance halls were closed to help the war effort., then they started using swimming baths & school halls for dances. I went to Woodcock St baths Moorpool Hall & Burbury St & Upper Sutton St Schools.

Jean.
 
hi
the palaise was situated on the corner of inglby street and monument rd
and the entrance was in ingleby street
the dance hall was a very massive hall, it was like a foot ball pitch inside. it held hundreds of people
it was just along the road from camden street and just after the war william bullpitt
purchased it for there ware housing deparpent right up until the seventy,s
and there manufacting factory was just along from there
i can recall goinginside that hall after the war days,and a old friend of mine was a commisioner there on the entrance in ingleby street
and quite right jean it was a war years rationing storage ware housing
to be quite honest it out shone the tower ballroom in more ways and one
for its capacity , and in size of the building with the even better
top bands during the war years .
happy new year to you all best wishes astonian ;;;;
 
This pic of the road leading to the Tower Ballroom was originally put on some while ago by someone else, but I liked it so much that I kept it!

To_Tower_Ballroom.jpg
 
I met my late Wife Doreen at a dance hall, I was home on leave from the RAF Christmas 1951(60 years ago !!!) and went to the Masque Ball room, either in Waford Road or Golden Hillock RD, I know I had to catch the No.8 Inner circle bus, we went quite a few times after that plus the Tower Ballroom. Eric
 
Hi Ingleton - I spent many happy hours at the Mecca in Hurst Street when it was called The Locarno!

Judy
 
I saw that Eric Delaney died recently - I remember him playing with his band at the West End several times - and in all honesty, I always thought his solos on the drums dragged on a bit too long

The picture is amazing - exacltly as I remember it - although looking at it after 50 years or so, it could easily be mistaken for a railway station by its appearance-
 
Just down the Alum Rock Road from Highfield Road towards Ward End , on the right hand side, there used to be a social club ( or was it a school ? ) I have just Google Street Viewed it and it is now a derilect site with fencing in front of it. I again remember many Saturday nights dancing there.
 
Thank you all, I remember all of them and the the very happy memories they invoke, lovely to see them all again.
paul
 
Ingleton, is the place you are thinking of the Morris Commercial Club? It was very popular on the 50s/60s and I think you had to get your tickets on Saturday afternoons to be sure you could get in the dance in the evening.
 
evening all, i remember playing at the Morris club in the 60.s with a couple of lads, we had the youngest lead guitar player in England, bye for now.

shardeen
 
SylviaSayers,

Thanks Sylvia for that - yes I now remember - it was the Morris, I suppose I must have walked there from Ingleton Road, and walked back as well. Amazing what you could do as kids eh ?
 
Glad to have jogged your memory Ingleton. Quite a walk for you, but it was common for us to walk home after a night out. I did it many times sometimes from Small Heath to Aston, and after dancing or being at a party all night. I often took my high heeled shoes off part way home!!!
 
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