Thank you all for a fab day in the studio !!!
You smashed it !!!
Your continued support to myself is heartfelt as it is with you all … your kindness and friendship means so much to everyone how special …
Today felt a little emotional… in a lovely way
Dougie would be so proud of us all xx
So this started the festive season !
I hope you have a truly wonderful Christmas with family friends and wish you all the very best for 2025 ! Xxx
The party season is under way ! Geoff and Richard asked me to do some decs for the party of the year ! at their apartment at Wapping … I went up on friday to get started on the tree… i so love the view from their balcony on the thames .. So it was a day of preparations for the party .. Geoff did the catering amazing … for 70 people ! i helped on the night in the kitchen it was busy lol ! Every body had a good time with entertainment from singers at Birds college … the wine was flowing … lovely to see friends that i have known for a life time ….
ITS DECEMBER ! SO CHRISTMAS PARTY CLASS TIME !
BURLESQUE was the theme… heels and fans at the ready … the girls had fun as ever !
they are crazy and I love it !
We are swinging into November …. went to see at Cadogan Hall a concert Debbie Wiseman and Alan Titchmarsh first preview of there new work of Jack Frost which they preview at the Royal Windsor Horse show in May ,it was a lovely concert so enjoyed the orchestra especially all Debbie’s work and lovely to hear Strauss played brilliantly .. It was a double bonus day as Reece and Danny came down for the concert so it was nice to have a catch up … after the concert we went into the west end for a few drinks … if you know Reece !! had a italian in Covent Garden ended up in soho with a few more drinks ! oh my feet were killing me as wore shoes instead the compatible trainers for the first time in ages …. we stayed in a hotel by waterloo, breakfast in covent garden before returning home exhausted …. HAHA !
lest we forget day … moving as ever tribute to my poppa .. went to the church in Wherwell to see Jill’s arrangement of poppy .. bless … seen my sister and mother a few times which has been lovely … even cooked them a classic from our child hood split pea soup with dumplings …
Have been sorting out costumes AS EVER ! Started painting on the christmas cards !!!!!
The colour of Autumn has been beautiful this year so some nice walks and drives around …
SO getting ready for class tomorrow happy days
With the season changing Autumn to winter is here, the trees turning the leaves falling ….. and Halloween !
lovely walk around Romsey the war memorial garden with the statue of War Horse , Pumpkin s at home …Halloween… and lovely lunch with my dear Mum
The Young Generation
One Sunday morning each month, Fulham’s Dance Attic fills with attendees ready to back twist, turn, pirouette, and dish on what superstars get up to behind closed doors. This class is a little different to the rest on the studio’s schedule: most in attendance are in their seventies, having five decades ago spent their Saturday nights dancing on primetime TV. “We go right back to it,” says 74-year-old Joan Golden, a former member of the Second Generation. “As long as we don’t look in the mirror.”
TV dance troupes hit their peak in Britain from the late 1960s until the early 1980s, thanks to the Young Generation and the Second Generation’s starring roles alongside the Jackson Five and Elton John, ABBA and Olivia Newton-John. Pan’s People and Legs & Co were making a name for themselves on Top of the Pops during the same period, with 15 million people tuning in each week. “I couldn’t walk down the street without somebody saying, ‘oh my God, there’s Jackie from Seaside Special,’” Jackie Travers, 70, recalls of the Saturday night show she appeared on from the mid-Seventies to the early Eighties. “I just loved the adoration, and it felt so good.”
Travers was at a dance and drama college in the early Seventies when she heard that an audition was going for the Young Generation, a troupe created for the BBC by choreographer Dougie Squires. She auditioned along with 400 other girls, desperate to win one of four places that would ultimately lead to dancing on multiple episodes of The Two Ronnies (“just the best people on the planet”), a string of specials Young Generation Meet Lulu and The Young Generation Meet Shirley Bassey), and alongside ABBA in Switzerland. That episode of Snowtime Special (a riff on their hit seaside show) “was probably the highlight because ABBA introduced us,” Travers says, so big was the troupe’s cachet. Then, they took the Swedes to a nightclub for a “burger and chips” and a dance.
Squires’s acolytes remain buoyed by memories of their time cavorting with megastars; the stints in Hong Kong and Canada, across Europe and performing to royals at the London Palladium. But the return of Strictly season also serves as a reminder of how life for professional dancers radically shifts once the lights go out. For Travers, that has become all the more acute following the headline-grabbing exits of Giovanni Pernice and Graziano di Prima: hurtling from TV adulation to the abyss is one she knows well.
“I have never, ever been as happy as I was when we were performing on the TV,” she says. Leaving the troupe, however, was “awful… once that’s taken away from you, you can actually get quite depressed.” While the majority of the women left to start a family, being without the glow of the spotlight proved harder to manage than they anticipated.
Lee Ward and Mary Corpe of Pan’s People in 1975 - Paul Fievez/ANL/Shutterstock
Strictly season is also bittersweet for Golden, whose husband is the musical director of its live tour. She frequently drops him off at shows (she jokes that she is “the oldest roadie in town”), but says his involvement can feel like a “double-edged sword” – excitement “tinged with slight envy that I always want to be involved. I’d love to be on stage and be part of it.”
The reunions offer a chance to compare notes on where the dancers have ended up (for Travers, that has included teaching dance classes, and appearing on Big Brother in 2013). “It’s amazing how the dancers all went to different elements of work; we had a porn star. We had a vicar,” Antony Johns, the choreographer who runs the classes (and partner of Squires, who died last year) says of the attendees, who also include retired air hostesses, solicitors, producers and presenters. Others went from being in a primetime juggernaut to creating their own: Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick were members of the Young Generation before helming the likes of Pop Idol and American Idol.
The first reunion took place in 2016, but became a proper fixture the following year, when the former dancers came together for Dame Vera Lynn’s 100th birthday celebration at the Palladium. (“The Queen came in her civvies; she sort of snuck in the back door with no escort and her handbag and sat in her royal box unannounced. They were great friends,” Golden recalls.)
Dancers from 1965-2024 during a rehearsal: (left to right) Joan Golden, Jackie Travers, choreographer Antony Johns, and Martine Howard - Clara Molden
Johns admits that he was originally sceptical about running the classes. “There’s nothing worse for me than going to a drinks party and going, ‘oh my God, you look terrible,’” he says, having assumed that seeing dancers so many decades after their heyday might prompt a similar reaction. When the first reunion date was set, he imagined 30 people might show up. “One hundred and sixty people arrived. And it was just an incredible feeling,” he says. That has carried them through ever since; former dancers tell me that the high of those two-hour classes is “like therapy”, scratching the itch of stardom past.
While the classes have brought many former pals back together, it has also allowed some dancers to meet for the first time. So says Martine Howard, who danced with the Young Generation for two years before going on to earn two top 10 hits with Guys ‘n’ Dolls. Switching from dancing to singing yielded the chance to escape being seen as “the fluff,” the 68-year-old remembers – and entry into a world of far harder partying.
“We didn’t get to bed until four in the morning, because by the time you’d done the show, you were quite wound up,” she says of performing with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and the Bay City Rollers. “We all used to get together and have a bit of a laugh, and then wake up the next morning at about 11, 12 o’clock, because we were exhausted. That was the life back
The Second Generation in 1973: ‘We didn’t get to bed until four in the morning’ - Tony Weaver/ANL/Shutterstock
For those with a toe still in the showbiz world, today’s gigs are a little less heady. Golden says she’s managed to secure some “old lady type-jobs” – including donning a nun’s habit and dancing alongside Olivia Colman in the upcoming Paddington in Peru – “and
TIME IS AT SUPER SPEED !
Sunday was hectic ! but also the gang had a great time …
We were photographed for the Telegraph ,I had been interviewed earlier in the week
for a article … could be interesting !!
then we had the class joined pop group from the 80’s Zenana for their song Witches
it was like old days working with the pop bands ! bless
Another week flies past ! it was nice to be sent the article from the Gaiety in Ayr … also a poster of my first panto for Dougie and Jamie bless ! good old Aberdeen … then we celebrated my younger brothers birthday we went out for lunch to the Peat and Spade it was lovely … being with the family x
Dear All ….
Here is the information for the October Class
With a slight difference !!! Through Mark Short have been introduced to Jon Godwin with a group he managers Zenanna .. in the eighties the had a record out “Witches “ to cut a long story short it’s been re released by Rush Hour Records and the first run has already sold out . With over 40,000 followers on Dj Antal instagram record store in Amsterdam !
So thought it would be fun for us to try and achieve a performance with Zenanna in the studio !!!
So if you can come in Black and white ( fosse style. Would be great ! !!
the fabulous SuPollard is doing a mega tour of a one women show … i saw this pic posted bless its a jacket I gave her over 25 years ago lol still looking great !
A Fun weekend in Blackpool! A trip down memory lane ! Lovely walk along the prom on a glorious day
To visit Pleasure Beach … cant believe it’s 10 years since I had been on the Park … great to see all the alterations .. enjoyed the new flow … Icon looks impressive …. Still love the look of the Big One ! Went to see Showtime the entertainment museum… liked the style but left me disappointed… so much more could have been done it only just scratched a tiny bit of the history of entertainment…. Had my palm read! Oh heck ! The festival of fireworks was on Saturday night wow it brings in the crowds !!! Which was fun as ever especially watching with chips and donuts !!! The bars were fun !!! And had some very nice food … I stayed at @staysinblackpool Franks which I love … stylish spacious and so central! …. Finished off with a lovely walk in the woods around Stanley park followed by a lovely Sunday Lunch before hitting the motorway home !!! ( which was long ! Rain and traffic )
Lovely to see my friends as ever thanks for looking after me ! Blackpool your in my heart !
FULL OF FUN ! everyone enjoyed the class it was a good one lol ! It was fun all the way and very special that Gill Hampson came to class and danced her heart out … Gill has been amazing in her strength and positive Attitude In total admiration…. A lesson to us all …
Dance is so very powerful … in how it makes you feel … this Generation class means so much to all it’s created a family … everyone one is welcome … I hate the word ex dancer but it’s open to everyone who has a passion for dance … you never forget how to dance … just remembering the steps in the right order. Is the challenge ! The next class will be Oct 13th. So come along and join in on the fun … watch this space for times etc x
W had a box of photos of our childhood that we needed to go through as there were pics of loads of different families , all taken by the one and only Maureen Flenley .. bless .. so happy to see them all especially the family ones and ones with Richard and Lynda
The last few weeks I have found very harsh …. I am finding more difficult the loss of Dougie , I am missing him very much indeed Im lost without him …. I cannot seem to face any issues etc … keep putting things off and more off .. Im trying so hard to snap out of it but seem to be failing … I try so hard each morning to pull myself together and start with positive moves and thoughts … the move yes its a lovely house its very quiet indeed I can go days without seeing or speaking to anyone … I do drive out for a coffee etc and go for walks but when ones life has always been sharing it feels so lonely ….
my health hasn’t been to good these past weeks also but I think its all part of it ….
Apart from this i did have a lovely evening at the Ballet with the lovely Debbie Goodman Went to see Swan Lake by the Georgian state Ballet company … actually I was very disappointed …. just must be me …
but hidden secret is the old Talk of the Town the star restaurant was fab and reasonable …
my dear sister Janet had a gathering of her dancing friends since the age of 4 .. it was lovely to tag along and join them .. learn about their lives … really bonded with Ali she is great fun lives in France so look forward in meeting her again x
Mum came to spend a weekend but bless her was uncomfatble not being in her space … her long term memory is amazing but her dailey memory is not so good … bless bu she is 94 ! how my sister copes I will never know with her looking after her husband and mum she is amazing …
My lovely friend Joan came to lunch and spent a few hours together and was lovely….
so in it all im so lucky and lots of love from sister and bro friends that I am so grateful i shouldn’t moan or be down or feel sorry for myself … snap out of it JOHNS
After a couple of weeks not feeling particular well …. and certain issues …had a lovely visit from Simon George we chatted none stop …. and got my cameras working again… on saturday got in the car and visited Geoff and Richard In their riverside apartment it was lovely … went for a fabulous Italian meal then on Sunday we went for a walk around Shadwell Dock and St Kathreen’s Dock which was lovely then strolled along the Thames .. loved it xxx
it felt ages since I saw them, so its great that they came down to visit the 17!….
Such a lovely afternoon at Lucy and John’s with dancing friends … very special xx
