History of the club

A brief history of the Willand Folk Dance Club.

As a club, we are now fifty years old and fit as a fiddle. A lot has happened in fifty years, far too much to recount here. There have been so many people that have danced at Willand and have played a part in organising and shaping the clubs future that my knowledge is sadly lacking. I have tried to tell a story of how it all started, recount some of the club’s many achievements, and offer a brief description of where the club is today. If you read this and are able to fill in the gaps, we would love to hear from you.

On Friday 21st March 1961, a dance was arranged by Bill Rutter, the South West Area Organiser of The English Folk Dance and Song Society, in the Willand Village Hall. Irene Harcourt was the M.C., and The Greensleeves Country Dance Band played. Bill did a lot of publicity for the event to try and encourage teenagers to come along. Bill (Sammy) Leaker, the long time Chairman of the Devon District of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, was a teacher at Tiverton Grammar School, and brought a large group of his pupils with him. Wilf Saunders, fiddle player for the Greensleeves Country Dance Band and the headmaster at Willand School, also got involved.

As a result of this dance, George and Gladys Godfrey, with support from The English Folk Dance and Song Society, founded The Willand Square Dance Club in March 1962. The club later became The Willand Folk Dance Club in 2001, as the term “Square Dance” was being associated more and more with American Square Dance.

Soon the club was full of young people. There was a thirst for knowledge, of dancing correctness, and soon the talk was for a display team and costumes. Irene Harcourt provided the tuition that shaped them into a very professional team.

So in those early years the club was a team of dancers who regularly put on displays. The club evenings were to practise, and the dances were to raise funds for costumes and travelling expenses, etc. In no time the dance team was performing dance routines all over the country. There were the regular spots at Lyme Regis, on Sidmouth sea front, at the Connaught Gardens, at Dartington, and many festivals and fete’s across the South West. On two occasions they danced at the Albert Hall, as representatives of the South West.

It was around 1966/67 that a group from Westerveda in Germany, were on an exchange visit to Cullompton, and Cullompton were looking for families to put the visitors up. Gladys got the Willand club involved, both in providing homes for the German families, and in evening entertainment through the dancing. As it happened, the German people also ran a Folk Dance club in their hometown, and were full of enthusiasm to join in.

And so started the exchange visits to Germany, where many friends were made, and so many memories were had. One of the many highlights from that time is a festival held in a neighbouring town to Westerveda, where Gladys Godfrey led her team dancing through the streets as part of a procession before 5000 people.

When Westerveda visited Willand, the Square Dance Club organised a week of entertainment for them. Placing thirty plus people with local families, arranging the transport to and from the village hall, coach trips by day, and dancing in the evenings, the refreshments and social gatherings. There were civic receptions from the Mayor at town hall, and official exchange of gifts between the two groups.

In 1966 the B.B.C. was interested in recording some dance programmes organised by The English Folk Dance and Song Society. Irene Harcourt, in conjunction with The Willand Square Dance Club, organised this, and in July 1966 a recording was made called “Country Dancing” to go out on the B.B.C. Home Service four days later. The Greensleeves Country Dance Band played for the recording.

There was then a break until October 1974. Between October 1974 and December 1975, six recordings were made for the B.B.C. Radio 2 Ballroom programmes, again with The Greensleeves Country Dance Band playing, and Dick Witt calling to a full Willand Village Hall. There were also invited artists who would come along and perform in between the dancing. The Willand Square Dance Club hosted all of these events in The Willand Village Hall. A lady in Scotland would write to Gladys after each broadcast, saying how much she enjoyed them. The programmes went on air between 6:30 and 7:30pm about six days after the recordings were made. Every programme was repeated on air the following year. After these six recordings the B.B.C. moved to other venues, and many more recordings of this type were made.

There were many other occasions:

  • The Whitt Monday tours to Lyme Regis.
  • The coach load that danced at Dartington each summer.
  • The many team displays.
  • Dramatic coach journeys down narrow country lanes.
  • Wedding days, with a guard of honour made up of dancers in costume.
  • Fundraising for the exchange visits – the jumble sales, coffee mornings, and dances.
  • Dancing on the wards in Tiverton Hospital on Christmas day.
  • The annual fancy dress dance.
  • The variety shows, and the annual Dinner and Dance.

This is how it all started, and where many reminisce about the good old days. Yet the club remains very successful today because it has been able to change to meet the needs of dancers as the years have slipped past.

The Dinner and Dance is now an annual event, and has been held at many different venues. The first was at the Cullompton Hotel in 1963, remembered, for amongst other things, it was the night President Kennedy was assassinated.

Today, the Dinner and Dance is held in the Willand Village Hall, for a number of reasons. The number attending has grown to close on a 100, we have found outside caterers who provide an excellent service and plentiful home cooked farmhouse style food, and we have the sprung dance floor to put to good use after the meal.

Today the club is very different to those early years. We are a club run and organised by dancers for dancers. It is a social club where dancers meet and come to have a good time. We share a common love of live music and dancing that helps to keep us young at heart and fit to enjoy life. Now boasting a membership of around 120 dancers, we dance for fun rather than perfection, and have a full calendar of events each year.

Sadly, not everyone is still with us, though no doubt they keep a close eye on us from their resting place. George and Gladys Godfrey have both passed away in recent years, as has Dick Witt and Ron Beeson. We are deeply indebted to these people for all the work they did in building the clubs foundations, so that we are still able to enjoy what they started today.

The Greensleeves Country Dance Band disbanded in 2000, playing their last farewell dance to a packed hall at Willand for the Christmas dance on December 18th, with Aileen Wills calling. The Greensleeves had twelve musicians in their band that night, spanning three generations of Denis Darke’s family. As far as I know, all members of the Greensleeves Band still enjoy life, and we keep in touch through Denis from time to time.

We would love to hear from past members. Please use the contacts page to get in touch and tell us your memories. We normally put out an exhibition of photos from past years at the annual dinner and dance, and look back at the way people were and the clothes they used to wear. So, if you danced at Willand at any time and wondered what we are doing now, please send us your story, or come and see us. You’ll find it home from home.

Brian Thomas, with help from Aileen Wills.

15th February 2009 - slight adjustment June 2011