There is a FREE class on the 21st December open to all class members. I’ll be recapping the recently taught dances, mixing in a few oldies and maybe playing one or two classics to Christmas tunes. Feel free to wear your Christmas t-shirts or jumpers if you want to. There will be no class on 28th December 2021 or on 4th January 2022, so I’ll see you back at Canwick on 11th January.

Great to see top choreographer, Gary O’Reilly, putting the media right about what modern day line dancing is all about. Not just waving your hat in the air and shouting Yee Ha as the presenter Tommy seemed to think – and he couldn’t quite  believe that we now dance to Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habits! Watch out for the cringeworthy introduction too.

Gary O’Reilly on TV

Following the government’s lifting of restrictions, I’m pleased to be able to announce that my intermediate class at Canwick will be restarting from Tuesday 3rd August.

There will be no new dance the first week back and to start off with, the aim will be to try and get everyone back up to speed after 16 months away from dancing. If you have been doing on-line classes or dancing regularly elsewhere, you may find it a bit slow going at first so might want to leave it a few weeks before returning to the class. Of course everyone is welcome, but do bear in mind, some people have a lot of catching up to do (myself included!) so there will be lots of recaps to start of with.

Officially the class runs from 7.45 to 9.45 but we often finish nearer to 10pm. Although the restrictions have been lifted, hand sanitiser will still be available and it will down to the individual whether or not they wish to wear a face mask. If you are feeling at all unwell, please don’t attend.

The hall has been redecorated and smartened up so will look a bit different. They have also increased the rent so I’m sorry but I will be putting up the cost of the class to £5  starting from 3rd August. Please try and bring the correct amount if possible.

I look forward to seeing everyone again next month and if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.

David

Hi everyone

Not sure how many people check back on this site now, but next week it will be one year since we last danced at Canwick so I thought it was time for a little update. What a year it has been – who would have thought it would be well over 12 months without dancing?

I hope everyone is keeping well?  I’ve just booked my Covid vaccinations – the first one is at the end of this month and the second in mid June. Although some classes may restart in May with social distancing in place, I think it’s more likely to be July before I can fully reopen classes without restrictions (fingers crossed!) in place at Canwick.

I know some people can’t wait to return but I also understand others may have enjoyed the break or possibly have concerns about returning. After such a long lay-off I wanted to reassure you that when we do go back, I’ll be doing lots of recaps and certainly don’t expect you all to remember the dances we were enjoying when we had to stop. I haven’t done any dancing myself so will have to do a lot of cramming before I start back again!

When we do return to Canwick, it is likely to look a little different inside the hall. A couple of months back I received an update on some of the work they’ve carried out and this included: –

• replaced the ceiling in the main hall with insulated panels
• sanded and polished the floor
• refurbished the club lounge
• repainted most areas

I just hope the work to the floor in the main hall will mean it is still as good to dance on. After years of it being a bit too slippery, we’ve not had any problems with it more recently. The last thing we want now is a sticky floor!

They had also submitted a bid for funding to refurbish the ladies toilets so if successful, these may also look a little different.

That’s about it for now. I’ll be in touch with everyone nearer the time once I have some more definite information about returning to classes. But in the meantime, if you’ve read this and know someone who won’t have, please feel free to pass on the above information. If anyone has decided not to return to classes, I’d be grateful if they could just drop me a line to let me know.

Thanks and take care,

David

Well I wasn’t expecting a year like this when were joining in with Auld Lang Syne on New Year’s Eve at the end of 2019!

January started with the sudden and unexpected death of one of our favourite choreographers, Robbie McGowan Hickie. Kate & I attended his funeral in Leicester before the month was out, the place was packed with mourners from all over the UK and some from the continent, which went to show just how popular he was.

We booked a fairly last minute trip to one of our favourite winter holiday destinations in Austria – at least our 10th visit to Seefeld. Little did we know that while we were away that week, Corona virus would start to become an issue in one or two of the Austrian ski resorts. Towards the end of the week, some guests in the hotel were coming back from the shops and deciding to pack their bags and make a premature and immediate departure by driving back home to Germany. As we were due to fly home on the Saturday, it wasn’t just holidaymakers booking in for the flights but all the holiday reps were coming back to the UK too, with no idea if or when they would be returning. In hindsight, we were very lucky to get a foreign holiday in and get back home safely before the virus really took hold across the world.

Of course all the line dance weekend holidays everyone had booked then had to be postponed including one we were due to attend at Branston Hall Hotel. This was put back to July 2021 but since then, the hotel has gone into administration and at present we have no idea whether it will still be going ahead or not.

Masks have become an essential clothing item and a couple of lockdowns down the line, we are all now very familiar with the full effect this virus has had and the dramatic changes we have had to make to our normal daily routine. For example, I’ve not been in to my place of work since March, and hardly attended any dance classes. And let’s not forget the dreadful number of people who have lost their life – it currently stands at over 63,000 in the UK alone.

On a personal note, my Dad, who has been in a dementia care home for the last year or so, had a fall and combined with an aggressive facial cancer, he unfortunately passed away last month. His funeral was yesterday and due to Covid measures in place, it was far from what we would term as “normal”. No singing at the service and no post-service wake allowed.

This is the time of year I’d normally be saying thank you for your support after another great 12 months of dancing and wishing you all a Happy Christmas. I do hope everyone can still enjoy the festive break. In an effort to try and end on a more positive note, let’s hope the vaccines coming out will allow us to get back to something like normal sooner rather than later in 2021. Fingers crossed!

When we do return, some people probably won’t have done much dancing for almost a year while others have managed to find regular classes elsewhere or online. If social distancing remains in place, it won’t be an easy return for many classes but working together and with a little give and take from everyone I’m sure we can start to enjoy our great hobby again in 2021.

All the best,

David (12/12/20)

Further update 09/10/20 – “Unfortunately, the plastering of the ceiling is taking longer than envisaged.  So at our Committee Meeting this week it was decided to remain closed until a date to be confirmed in November when all the work (including re-decorating) is complete and, of course, as long as Covid-19 regulations permit us to.”

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I’ve had a further update 07/09/20 -regarding the hall at Canwick. Unfortunately there is some delayed but necessary work required to the ceiling in the main hall. This is due to be carried out mid October. Following this, there will be further disruption, expected to last about a week or so, when the hall will have to be closed for re-decoration. This is likely to be around the end of October/early November. So very sorry but it seems we won’t be able to restart dancing anytime soon.