COLETTE JONES

I used to go to the Loreto Convent in Moss Side and in the 1970s the Lady Mayoress of Manchester paid a visit to the school. She came to see us, and we did some form of dancing for her. It was modern dancing. And a result of that, she said “I’d like you to come to the Town Hall and do some dancing there for us”. She didn’t say there would be any visitors at the Town Hall. I just remember we spent a couple of weeks learning a dance. We learnt Scottish Folk dancing - we hated it! I can even remember the moves now. Right behind front kick, right behind front kick.

My mum was a tailoress and she made the outfits for us, but they were only plain out ts from the school - white shirts black skirts and a tartan sash across. We practised every day and when the time came about 12 of us went to the Town Hall to perform the dance. The Lady Mayoress said, “there’s a special visitor today who’s going to watch your dance” and our hearts sank as we realised it was the Duke of Edinburgh. I just remember after he left that we all collapsed in laughter because we hadn’t really taken it seriously.

The Duke of Edinburgh thanked us for dancing and we shared tea and cakes with him afterwards. It was a lovely day...and it did get us out of class!