Folk dance group celebrates 40th anniversary

A folk dance group set up 40 years ago is celebrating its anniversary, with founder Eileen Sweet still running the twice-monthly sessions.

Mrs Sweet, 75, and her late husband, Pete, volunteered to teach dancing when the Frampton Cotterell and District Community Association was being formed in the late Sixties.

They had attended the inaugural meeting and came forward when association leaders asked for people to set up various events and groups.

Mrs Sweet, of Dragon Road, Winterbourne, said: "We had both belonged to the Woodcraft Folk – an educational movement for children and young people – in our younger days and did folk dancing there.

"We started running the classes once a month in St Peter's Hall and then they became twice a month.

"Pete, who also used to call at barn dances, died about 14 years ago and I said I would carry on with the group if I had a bit of help. We still use old records for the music and it's quite a social gathering.

"Membership is around 30-35 and we regularly go off on trips and holidays together. We also have a dinner every five years and next week we're having a meal, with dancing, in Chipping Sodbury Town Hall to mark our 40th anniversary."