Heather And Gorse Clog Dancers Perform For The Grand Hotel In Torquay

A Memory of Torquay.


The front of the Grand Hotel as shown in this view from 1912 is remarkably like the hotel now, in 2008.  Its only when the dancers and musicians of Heather and Gorse Clog Dancers went inside that we found a huge sun lounge, a wide terrace overlooking swimming pools and a fountain that are modern additions!

The Grand Hotel and local radio station, Gemini, had organised a fund raising day for local charities under the hotel's banner of an "Easter Eggstravaganza" and we were part of the entertainment programme. This was Easter Saturday - the earliest Easter for almost 100 years and believe me the weather reminded us!  We danced on the wide terrace and most of our audience watched through windows from the warmth of the hotel's sun lounge!  A few hardier souls ventured outside and sat under parasols to protect themselves from the occasional flurries of sleet and fine snow! It was a truly cold day but the hotel did provide us with a barbeque lunch to sustain us between our two booked "spots".  

The dancers looked smart in their blue skirts, white blouses , black waistcoats and shiny black clogs. This was the team's first outing of the year and unusually early! In a normal year the dancing season would start on May Day morning watching the sun rise!  However, there were a few minutes during the afternoon when the sun shone and we could appreciate what pleasures the sun terrace might offer in summer weather.


Added 23 March 2008

#221117

Comments & Feedback

My brother was born in Shrublands in 1946. It was definitely in Morgan Avenue. There was another maternity home in the Warberrys during the war, called Hazelwood, I believe, and my sister was born there in 1943. There was also a children's home at the beginning of the Warberrys, which received a direct hit during the war. When we went up there the next day, there were bedclothes and things hanging in the trees. After the war, the Olympics were held in Torquay and our school choir sang "Non nobis, Domine" on the steps of Torre Abbey. This would have been in 1948.

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