Pudsey Civic Hall: Elderly Leeds residents say taking away dance classes would be 'devastating' for community
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00:00 As part of significant cost saving measures, Leeds City Council has put up a civic hall for closure.
00:05 The community facility is frequently used for ballroom dance classes
00:09 and we attended one of their social events to speak with organiser Carol Hannan and the dancers
00:14 who shared their devastation at the prospect of losing the facility
00:17 and the impact it would have on their physical and mental health.
00:20 Yeah, I hold the dances here.
00:22 So I teach dance on a Monday evening from quarter to seven to half seven
00:26 and then it's followed by the social dance.
00:28 It would be such a shame to lose it because it's such a beautiful ballroom.
00:33 We don't have anything else like this in the north apart from, as far as I'm aware,
00:38 the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool.
00:39 So, you know, to dance the dances that we do, the ballroom etc,
00:44 the sequence to progress around the room, you need a big ballroom
00:47 and they're slowly closing over the years.
00:49 So it'd be such a shame if we lost it.
00:51 And what does this mean for the people who come here and yourself?
00:57 There's the social side of it.
00:58 There's obviously the dancing that's important because they enjoy the dancing so much.
01:02 It's exercise for people.
01:04 There's lots of different ages but I've noticed there's people that are a little bit older
01:09 but it's exercise for them, light exercise.
01:12 It's good for the well-being.
01:14 It's good for the social side.
01:16 There's lots of people that sit and chat.
01:18 We have social dances here as well where people come and dance and chat.
01:22 We've got single dancers, that's called.
01:24 So it's a chance for them to catch up with other people and dance with them
01:29 and intermingle with different people.
01:31 So I travelled 18 miles to come here but it's one of the few large dance floors left for us in Yorkshire
01:39 without having to travel to Blackpool and some distance.
01:44 But here they teach and we're provided with social to meet people.
01:51 It's good for our health in the age group that choose to dance like this.
01:56 So we'd be really upset if this were to go.
02:00 I mean this is one of the best floors probably in Yorkshire.
02:03 It's one of the best attended dance floors there is.
02:07 It's got a fantastic venue.
02:09 It's really important for older people like us that need the exercise.
02:13 We need the mental exercise.
02:14 We need the social aspect of it all.
02:17 We're all gathering.
02:17 We're all friends here.
02:19 It's very important that we also get our money's worth out of the council tax
02:23 as well as everybody else.
02:25 We're paying in as everybody else is and I think we deserve to have our social space
02:30 where we enjoy dancing.
02:32 Quite a few people here tonight although it's not that busy really for here for Pudsey.
02:36 There's plenty of space and people can dance, they can exercise,
02:39 can get their brains going and they can also talk to each other and chat.
02:44 It's very important.
02:45 Absolutely. I mean I'm single so I live on my own.
02:49 And you know to come to a place like this on a Monday night or any night of the week
02:55 and it's just so good for you.
02:58 Yeah it makes you feel so much better alive and you know the first time I ever danced
03:03 I felt as if I'd been injected with life.
03:06 I mean that's the truth.
03:07 I said that to my friend when I got back in the car.
03:09 Yeah so what happened?
03:12 What was the first time that you came here and the first time that you danced?
03:16 The first time here, I mean it's just amazing.
03:18 It buzzes, you know it really buzzes on a Saturday night.
03:21 I come to this ballroom and I go to body jive and it just makes you feel much better.
03:27 And it's so much good exercise for you.
03:30 It keeps you fit and you make new friends.
03:34 You know it's a fantastic way of being sociable and healthy.