Dancing With Words

Here I am at the Palm court in the Waldorf Hotel in London. My husband took me there a couple of weeks ago for a tea dance as part of my birthday present. It's not the first time we've been - we went three years ago and you can read the blog post I wrote about it called 'Waltzing at the Waldorf' here.

What a wonderful time we had! We danced to the fabulous Berkeley Square Society Band and were served the most delicious tea. 

What more could we ask for? Except maybe leaf tea rather than teabags (am I being pernickety?) 

In contrast, last Saturday, we went to a friend's birthday party. Music was provided by a DJ and we were left to 'do our own thing' as my dad used to call it! We realised it was a while since we'd had to dance without set steps. What do we do with our feet? I wondered.

Luckily, it all came back. I was that eighteen year old in the night club again (good job my daughters weren't there to see). Seriously though, It doesn't matter what style of dance it is - my husband and I just love it. And at a party, it certainly beats standing around talking.

I couldn't help but compare my love of dancing with my love of writing. They are how I express myself best and to me, dancing perfectly describes the writing process.

1. Any one can do it but not everyone can do it well.

2. There are many reasons why people do it: for themselves, for others, for fun, for money.

3. The more you practise, the more the steps (both dance and writing) get easier.

4. Neither are easy all the time: we miss steps, go off beat, falter.

5. You can experiment with different styles: in dance it might be ballroom, Latin, ballet, salsa or modern jive. In writing it might be flash, short stories, articles, serials or novels.

6. Slow, slow, quick quick slow... I'm sure we all recognise that one!

7. Finding the rhythm in the music is like finding the flow in the story line.

8. You can go with the flow or learn the rules - it depends on what you're dancing/writing.

9. They are both a great form of self-expression.

10. However good you are, there is always more to learn and someone better than you.

I hope I shall be doing my two favourite things for many years to come.

A Dance, a Date, a Garden Centre and a Cracking Deal!

A bonus post this week where I share the inspiration behind my stories in this week's People's Friend Weekly and the Special.

 First there is Dance Fever. It's a story very personal to me. As most of you will know, I love dancing - all types, but my first love was modern jive. I have written many stories about dancing and also many posts... you can read them....here

A few years ago, I went to a dance class and was saddened at the way some of the men showed off, throwing their women around and making out they knew it all. Although I was a competent dancer, I still wanted a courteous dance partner, someone who would make me feel special on the dance floor. I found him in Fred... who was wheelchair bound. This story is for him.

The man in the next illustration, in my story Sowing the Seeds  (in the People's Friend special) was someone who I saw in a garden centre while I was having coffee. He looked sad until the woman who was serving behind the counter went over and talked to him, and I wondered what his story was. I like to think that this was it.

My other story in The Friend Special, called First Night Nerves, was inspired by a friend of mine who had split up from her husband. After they had been separated a while, they started seeing each other again as if for the first time. This is the story of their first date nerves.

If anyone reading this would like to read more of my People's Friend stories, I have reduced the price of my romance collection, Room in Your Heart to 99p for one week only.

You can buy it here at Amazon 

Why Writing is Like Dancing

How fitting that for part four of my serial, Charlotte's War, illustrator David Young chose the scene with Charlotte and Denise doing the jitterbug at a dance. Why is that fitting? Well, because that's what I've been doing this weekend - not jitterbugging exactly but close, as my husband and I have just got back from our annual jive weekend at Warner, Hayling Island.

Those of you who have followed my blog since it started in 2012 will know that we are very keen dancers - in fact I've been dancing modern jive for over twenty years now! When I was younger, it used to be classes twice a week and a dance every weekend but over the years salsa, and more recently ballroom and Latin, have taken over as our dances of choice and, apart from the occasional local local dance, we tend to only jive now at this event. This is probably why we enjoy the weekend so much as it is like getting to know an old friend again.

If I show you the timetable, you'll see why I feel ready to sleep for a week.

Anything circled or underlined is a class we did... and that's just the Saturday classes. Sunday was just as full and, on top of that, there were dances each evening until the small hours to practise what we'd learned. The only problem was that each time we did a new class, we'd forget what we'd done in the class before!

The weekend wasn't all about jive, though. There was the opportunity to learn Social Foxtrot, West Coast Swing, Bollywood or Rumba if you wanted. Here's a picture of our lovely Milonga teachers, Andy and Samantha. Milonga is a bit like a fast tango and we've added some of their moves to our own repertoire.

I have to say, it was quite nice to have a proper break from writing, social media etc and be able to do nothing but dance and eat... did I mention the food? I'd better not as you might be jealous. What I will say, is that I'm not sure the dancing burnt off all the calories from the evening carvery!

Two, three rest... two, three rest... that's the rhythm of the Rumba class we took and in some ways it reminds me of my writing. I need those rest phases to get the energy back for the next spell of writing. It's also a bit like my publications. Last week, as well as my serial, I was lucky to have two stories in the People's Friend Special. It often happens that way and then there'll be a break. Here's the one I wrote called The Midnight Sun, which is set in Antarctica.

I hope you all have a good week. I'd planned to do some writing... but I think I'm off for a sleep!

Write About What You Know

The glitter ball sends kaleidoscopes of light across the dance floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a cameraman training his lens in that direction. I lean my arms on the balcony and look down at the people sitting at their round tables, waiting expectantly. The band strikes up and my partner takes my hand.

"Shall we?"

I take a deep breath as he leads me down the red carpet and onto the dance floor. This is my Strictly moment. A nightingale is singing in Berkley Square and a couple dressed in their Sunday finery glide past us. For a minute I am Flavia and my partner is Vincent as we step onto the floor.

"What dance is this?"

I am brought back to reality with a bump. "It's a foxtrot," I hiss.

For we are not on the set of Strictly Come Dancing. We are, in fact, at a tea dance at the Waldorf Hotel to celebrate our anniversary; the camera crew are here filming for a series about finding love online and the man by my side is not Vincent but my husband of three years, Ian...

 

This is the beginning of an article I wrote for The People's Friend and, if you bought a copy of the magazine the week before last, you might have read it. In it, I describe how my husband and I met at a salsa class in Lewes and our shared love of dance. Some of you might remember me blogging about the Waldorf Hotel tea dance (mentioned above) in 2013. If not you can read it here.

 

When I first started writing, I remember reading an article by Doug McPherson (you can read his guest post here) in Writer's Forum on writing about what you know. Doug knows a lot about music and circuses, so you can guess what he likes writing about! What good advice that turned out to be - I found that by writing about something I love and know a lot about, half the work had been done for me. 

 

It's also worth remembering that it's possible to get a lot of mileage out of one topic. Dancing is a huge part of my life and, looking back over the last couple of years or so, I realise that as well as the article, I have written and sold seven dance themed stories to different magazines. My first ever People's Friend story was called Dancing Queen and my latest, about a woman who realises a perfect dance partner doesn't necessarily make the perfect partner in life (I beg to differ of course!) will be in this weeks issue. I won't tell you the name of the story as it will probably have been changed.

 

Of course, I write about a lot of things I know little about as well (autism, gardening, sailing, anything historical etc.)  but finding out about it takes time... when I write a story about dancing the research as already been done.

 

I'm beginning to think I've now saturated the market with my dance stories... maybe I should take up golf! 

I Need a Rest!

I've had a very busy time since last week. First there was my birthday and then last Friday we were off to Hayling Island for the Jive Time modern jive weekend. I've been on many jive weekends over the years but this is a particular favourite - held at Lakeside Warner holiday park, with accommodation in chalets, which gives it a rather quaint Hi-di-hi feel. I have to say we were very well looked after and the carvery was as good as usual.

The fun begins when you get your timetable and decide what lessons to do each day. This year I did: West Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, 1930s Shag, Salsa, Kizumba (not to be muddled with zumba), Quick Step and advanced Modern Jive.

For three nights we danced until the early hours and then staggered home on the Monday Morning!

Yesterday, I took my eldest grandson to London for the first time on a sightseeing trip. We didn't get home until nearly midnight! Armed with a children's map and an I-spy book of London, we (along with my sister) took in all the major sights, saw the changing of the guard, took a boat trip, visited the Tower of London and walked back along the South bank for dinner near the London eye - looking out over a river that reflected the London lights as day turned to evening. Certainly a day for us all to remember.


This week I have a story called 'All Our Yesterdays' in The People's Friend - I think I'll read the rest of the stories with my feet up!

Jumping and Jiving

I'm jumping because I have a story 'Every Time We Say Goodbye' in this month's People's Friend Special, with a lovely illustration to go with it by Len Thurston. It is a romance set  on the coast of Devon and is about a Murder Mystery party.

I have never actually been to one myself and, if I'm honest, don't particularly want to. The thought of having to act in character, when all I want to do is enjoy my food, is not appealing and also I am hopeless at accents (doesn't everyone have to have one at these things?)

The reason I am jiving is because my husband and I are off to The Isle of Wight for a jive weekend on Friday. It is being held at one of the large hotels on the sea front at Sandown and it should be great fun. Our plan is to go to a few classes in the mornings (I'm looking forward to learning some strolls), walk the coastal path in the afternoons and then dance in the evenings. Saturday night is Grease Night with Joey and the Jivers... so I can wear that dress!

Rockabilly Me - Like the Dress?

I've just been reading Julia Douglas' (Douglas McPherson's) vintage clothes romance, Polka Dot Dreams, in which Natty Smalls, the heroine of the novel, has a vintage or reproduction outfit for every day of the week. I love this era and its clothing.

Many of you will know that I am a keen dancer (ballroom, Latin, salsa, Argentine tango and modern jive).

Last night my husband, the famous timeline creator, and I went to a jive dance and I kept thinking how much better I would dance if I had a dress like Natty's. So today I spent a long time on the Internet and came up with the dress above. I've never bought a dress on-line before so am rather apprehensive as to whether it will fit. Hopefully it will.

I shall buy a net underskirt to give it an authentic 50's look and then I shall be ready for all the dances I have lined up for Christmas.

 I may not look quite like Natty, but I will certainly feel like her... can't wait!

Apologies to those reading this on I-pads or I-phones who can't see the above vintage video clip - I'll keep it in for those viewing on PCs.

My story in this month's People's Friend Special (out Wednesday) is nothing about dancing but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.

Towns and Gowns - Read My Story in The People's Friend

Here is another in my series of 'Inspiration Behind the Stories'. Today I am going to tell you about my story 'Town and Gown' which is published in The People's Friend this week.

Two years ago, after I had been made redundant, I started an online writing course. One of my assignments was to use as the story setting a place we knew well. There was no doubt in my mind as to where this would be as my daughter had, the previous September, started a degree course at Cambridge University. You can imagine how proud I was, especially as I had brought her up on my own from the age of two and the school she had attended was just the local comprehensive, not an elite independent school.

I can still remember the first time we visited Cambridge to choose a college. The sun was shining (as it always seemed to on subsequent visits) and the colleges were all stunning - I was only sad that we couldn't visit them all. There was so little to choose between the ones we visited that in the end my daughter stated she would choose Gonville and Caius as it had the best 'Harry Potter' hall!

I remember standing on a bridge watching the students punting on the river and thinking it would be the most magical place to study.

 
My story combines my love of Cambridge with my other love - dancing. In this tale, June finds an old dance hall ticket in the pocket of her deceased husband's pocket as she sorts out his clothes for the charity shop. She reminisces about her life as a young woman in Cambridge and the love of ballroom dancing which brought her and her husband together so many years ago. When the young assistant at the charity shop where she works tells her that she has been accepted at Cambridge University (against all odds) and has nobody to visit the colleges with (her father says she should get a 'proper job'), June is quick to offer herself as a companion and so begins a trip down memory lane.

 

I loved writing the story and it was after this assignment that my tutor and author of the fantastic travelogue 'The Blonde Bengali Wife', Anne Hamilton suggested I try writing for magazines. I hope that she will be proud to learn that this story has now been published!

Thank you to Anne for your confidence in my ability and to the lovely editors at The People's Friend for liking it enough to publish it.

In my next post I shall tell you all about my trip to London for the Woman's Weekly Workshop - just as well I'm going as I just had another story rejected by them!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Okay, so I come home from a weekend of Jive dancing on Hayling Island to find I have two more stories accepted by the lovey People's Friend (the good) but then my computer breaks (the bad). As writers need computers I have no option but to empty my piggy bank and buy a new one.

How do I do this? Do I read reviews to find out which is the most reliable, easy to use computer or do I drive to Curry's and try out all the keyboards before making a decision based on the fact that I rather like it's snazzy blue colour?

Anyone who knows me, will know that I did the latter. What worried me, though, is the words I tapped out on each keyboard... There are two things that you should know. I am at a loss as to why I wrote this on every computer screen - any psychiatrists out there?

My new computer is lovely, blue and shiny... it also has Windows 8 (the ugly). Please could someone tell me what is going on there. I am in an alien territory of weird Apps more suited to an iphone. Why is it that Microsoft feels the need to fix something that isn't broken only to make it unusable! Luckily my clever husband has found some software that can be put on to turn it back into something that resembles Windows 7... phew! Oh and after struggling with the new computer, my old computer decided to work again!

Now that rant is out the way, I can tell you all that we had a fantastic weekend of dancing. The event took place at the Warner Village on Hayling Island. There were dances Friday, Saturday and Sunday night and dance workshops every day. The food was fabulous - so much so that despite the exercise, my husband and I have both put on weight!

It seems strange that my dance weekend coincided with the publication of my dance weekend story It Takes Two to Tango in Fiction Feast this month. For anyone that has read it - no, there was no sultry dance teacher called Mateo Sanches!

Waltzing at the Waldorf

 

 

Here are the promised pictures of my birthday treat - dancing to the Berkley Square Society Band at the Waldorf Hotel in London.

 

We weren't even sure if we were going to make it as when we got to the station we heard there had been 'an incident' on the line and that our train had been cancelled. Undeterred, we jumped into our car and drove there instead, arriving only ten minutes late.

 

 


These are some of the cakes we ate - yum!


 

 
The tea dance was held in the beautiful Palm Court Restaurant.
















We were surprised when we were told that Channel 4 were going to be filming the tea dance as part of a documentary. We were asked if we would be happy to be interviewed by Dawn Porter and stupidly agreed. This meant that I spent the rest of the dance worrying about it. In the end we weren't - which was a huge relief!



Happy Birthday to Me!

Oh well, another year older! No, this isn't me celebrating with my friends - it was me on my sixth birthday. I'm the one at the front with my hands up. The photo brings back so many memories - I can name everybody and I loved my party dress so much. I wonder what they are all doing now? I suppose if I was a Facebook fan, I'd have the answer to that question but as I'm not, I shall probably never know.

So what shall I be doing on my special day? I have invited some girlfriends round for lunch and a gossip (always a good thing). I'm hoping they won't mind if I don't make anything - all my friends are fantastic cooks and although I like cooking family meals, I stress about cooking for company as I can't compete. I thought a selection of breads and cheeses and a cold meat platter followed by a cheating M&S desert and fresh berries. How does that sound?

I shall have to wait until Sunday for my birthday treat, though. My husband and I are off to the Waldorf Hotel in London for a tea dance in their Palm Court restaurant. I am SO excited! My two biggest pleasures, eating and dancing, all in one afternoon. We shall be dancing to The Berkley Square Band (yes, the same ones we danced to on Valentine's night) and I shall take some photos to show you all.

 

I am now trying to get to grips with my new iphone... help!

It Takes Two to Tango

 

My story 'It takes Two to Tango' is in this month's Take a Break Fiction Feast. I expect  you won't be surprised that it is another story featuring dancing - after all, as you probably know, it is my main hobby. They also bought another story today so I like them very much!

 

This month's story is about a married woman who goes away on a dance weekend with a rather flighty friend. I won't spoil it be telling you what happens but I will tell you how I got the inspiration.

 

For many years, since I started dancing in my mid thirties, I have been on dance weekends - both jive and salsa. These are great fun and I've been both with groups of friends and in more recent years, with my husband (as he is a dancer as well).

 

The weekends provide the opportunity to learn to dance better, eat well and socialise and of course they provide a backdrop for intrigue for those who are looking for it! In my book, there could be no better setting for a story.

 

For some reason (probably because the dance is more sensuous than jive) I decided to send my heroine on an Argentine tango weekend - which was strange as, at the time of writing, it was one of the few dances I hadn't learnt. This meant all the dance moves had to be researched and I was thankful, having just completed several months of Argentine Tango lessons, that when I read the story today, I actually recognised the steps I had written about!

 

We are planning to film our tango routine to help us remember it and if it's not too horrendous we may put the clip on my blog (but please remember we are only amateurs!)

 

In the meantime, here is a clip of some professionals performing this amazing dance.

 

 

An odd thing came out of this story though. At the beginning, my heroine hides receipts for a new dress to take on her weekend, under potato peelings in the bin. My husband proof read the story months ago but he's never forgotten that part. He's pretty convinced that this is what I must do (has he not heard of fiction?)

 

In two weeks time we are off to Hayling Island for a jive weekend with some friends. I've bought a new dress but my husband won't find the receipt... it's under the potato peelings!



Dancing to the Berkley Square Band

I haven't put up a post about dancing for a while so I thought I would tell you about Valentine's night.

 

My husband took me to the  Valentine Ball at the Corn Exchange in Brighton. It was a magical evening. The ten piece Berkley Square Society Band played all night and we danced our way around the room to their wonderful music. It was like being transported back in time to the wartime era. The men were dressed in black tie and the women in beautiful dresses.

 

Two years ago when we went there, we had only been learning ballroom a short while and found it hard to cope with the number of dancers on the dance floor - if someone stopped in front of us we'd stop dead unable to continue. This time round, and being more experienced dancers, my husband proved to be a dab hand at avoidance tactics!

 

What was especially nice was how happy everyone looked. There was a mix of abilities and also of ages - if this is what Strictly Come Dancing has done for ballroom then it can only be a good thing.

 

I was very excited to hear that the Berkley Square Band are the resident band at the tea dances in the Palm Court at the Waldorf Hotel in London so guess where I shall be going for my birthday in April!

 

Another bonus of the evening was an Argentine Tango display. We have been learning this for a few months now so it was great to see it properly done.

 

My good new this week is two sales to Fiction Feast and one to The People's Friend - a big thanks to both magazines.

 

 

Resources for Wendy's Story Timeline and Masquerades





Below are some useful links which you can use with Wendy's Story Timeline.

         I hope you find these useful:

• For world history, disasters, sports, entertainment and more timelinesclick here

• For interactive British history timeline click here  and here

 

• For inventions timeline click here

 

• For WW1 timeline click here

 

• For WW2 timeline click here

 

• For major world events 20th Century timeline click here

 

• For kings and queens of England timeline click here

 
If you are wondering why there is a picture of a mask at the top of this post, it's because the inventor of the timeline and I are going to be salsa-ing the night away tonight at a masked ball at Eastbourne Town Hall.

Finally on further good note - another sale today to the lovely People's Friend!

A Big Thank You To Everyone

A big thank you to everyone who visited my blog and downloaded Wendy's Story Timeline. A special thank you also to Teresa and Patsy for mentioning it on their blogs and sending hundreds to view it! Thank you also for all your kind comments - if you use it for a story, please let me know how useful it was.

In the next post I shall be posting some links that I hope will be useful to use alongside the timeline.

I am feeling very Christmassy for various reasons:

• On Saturday, my choir, Cantatrice, had our Christmas concert in the local church. The building is beautiful and sun streamed through the stained glass windows as we sang a mix of carols and lighter Christmas songs - it doesn't get more Christmassy than that in my book.

• In the evening we had our ballroon Christmas dance. It was a lovely occasion - even though it was so full, we could only do the basic steps in each dance. We also had the chance to dance our Argentine Tango routine that we've been learning over the last few weeks - it was a bit scary as there were only three other couples dancing with us and everyone else watching.

• We booked tickets for a salsa Christmas masked ball . (I've decided my husband should wear a Simon Cowell mask!)

• We put up our Christmas tree.

• I had stories accepted by both Fiction Feast and The People's Friend (not Christmassy - but it made me happy).

Introducing Bobby

Those of you who have been following my blog will have met my step dog Bonnie. This is her step brother Bobby. I thought it rather fitting that he should choose the bookcase to perch on while I was writing. Bobs is nearly thirteen and his usual favoured spot to sit is between me and the laptop, while I am trying to type.There really isn't enough lap space for both!

When my husband and I got married two years ago (click here for our salsa wedding dance) I was worried how dog and cat would get on. I needn't have worried as you can see. I think this is the big Ahhhh moment!

Oh, and if anyone else wants to have a guess at the number of redundant words in the text from last post, you still have time. You don't have to email (though you can if you like) - just post your answer in the comments. At the moment, Claire, you are the closest. I will post answers soon.

Tribute to Big Jim Sullivan



I had been invited out with a group of friends to see a local duo and, having recently divorced, I remember the oddness of going out on a Sunday night.

The small room at the back of the Chequers was crowded. It was the early nineties and the air smelt of beer and cigarette smoke. On the stage stood two men, drinking pints and chatting amiably. One in particular caught my eye. He was large and twinkly eyed with a shock of white beard.

His name was Big Jim Sullivan and his music partner was Willie Austen. When they started playing, the room came alive - feet tapped, bodies swayed and songs were mouthed with the band. It was the best night out I had had for a long time and was one I would repeat many times over the years.

To me, Big Jim was the one who smiled benignly, the one who took a back seat as Willie charmed the crowd but he was also the one who could play guitar - and I mean really play. I Look back at that time in the pub (that seems so long ago now) and realise how little we knew the real Big Jim.

Did we know that he had been one of the best session musicians of the 60's and 70's? No. Did we know that he had played with Tom Jones? We certainly didn't and likewise we were also ignorant of the amazing fact that he was a regular drinking buddy of Elvis.

What we did know, in those carefree days in the pub, was that we were listening to someone special to us, the locals. That is the memory that I wish to keep - Big Jim in the Chequers playing his guitar rifts behind his back just because he could.

I heard a rumour that he died quietly while listening to music...I like to think that it was to Johnny B Goode, the song that started my love of modern jive. I wrote my blog post 'Dancing' three days ago. The day before Big Jim Sullivan died.

Disappointed

At the end of my last post I said that I'd just had two stories rejected for Woman's Weekly. I was disappointed as I haven't sold a story to them yet (and would really like to) but did as all good writers must - I sent them on to another magazine.

Imagine my surprise when today I received a lovely email from someone else at WW today saying they liked one of my stories but wanted me to change the end and send it back! Too late! There was obviously a communication mix up at their office. If I had only waited......

To cheer myself up, I am going to show you a video of my salsa first wedding dance (mu husband and I met at salsa classes and got married in 2010). I would like to say I usually dance better than this, but it's difficult in a long dress. Nobody knew that we were going to be doing salsa at the end of the dance, so I hope it was a nice surprise.

I started dancing Salsa about twelve years ago, when I felt I needed a new challenge. I started off learning Cuban salsa and then moved on to LA (cross body) style. In the video we are dancing LA style which I prefer because I like all the styling and spins you can do.

Dancing

Anyone that knows me will know about the hobby that has been a part of my life for the last sixteen years - dancing. You name it - I have probably tried it!

Modern Jive. Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Lindy Hop, Waltz, Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, Ballroom, Tango, Argentine Tango, Quickstep, Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba........

It all started when I went to see a band playing in our local pub. I can remember them playing Johnny B Goode and as the song got going, two couples emerged from the rows of people watching the band and started to dance. How I wanted to join them - my feet were itching. It looked like Rock and Roll but different in some way and when I asked one of them after wards what dance they were doing, they said it was Ceroc or Modern jive.

I found out there was a class near the town where I live and decided to join. Luckily, I went with someone who had been dancing a while and, with his help, picked the dance up quickly (it is the best dance to start off with as you don't have to do any set footwork). This was in 1996 - little did I know that sixteen years later I would still be dancing - this and other dances.

What is great about Modern Jive classes is that you don't need a partner. Classes are organised so that men stand in one line and women stand in a line facing them. You dance with that partner and the teacher teaches you the first move. When the next move is taught, the women move on a set number of men so you have a new partner. It is a great way of getting to know people before the freestyle dance session at the end of the lesson.

The freestyle session at the end is arguably where, as a woman, you will learn the most. At this stage you can't be shy! It is perfectly acceptable for the women to ask the men to dance (if you don't, you may end up not dancing all evening) and the men will be very pleased if you ask them. If the man you dance with is a competent lead, you will be led easily into moves you haven't even been taught and of course each dancer has his own unique style. When I was first learning to dance, I made a point of asking the better dancers to dance so that I could learn faster.

Most importantly - don't give up! It may take a few weeks to feel you are getting the hang of the dance but once you do, you will have a hobby for life.

When you feel more confident, there are dance weekends that you can go to. These are great fun. My husband and I go to one on Hayling Island. There are dance workshops during the day and dances in the evening - you also get fed well.

Next weekend we are going to a jive dance near Battle and staying overnight in the hotel - what a treat!

The bad news - two rejections from Woman's Weekly (a magazine market I have yet to crack).