Clog dancer from South Moor, Stanley.
Learned from Harry Robinson in about 1932. He could not remember much about the music they used other than that they were schottisches. He performed at go-as-you -pleases sometimes with another dancer Gwen Tweddle (but she was perhaps a tap dancer). He recalled that his first performance was at the Hibernian Hall, Stanley.
He recalled dancing in a competition in a working mens’ club in Westerhope in about 1934 when he beat a man called Ellwood (presumably Jimmy Ellwood or Johnson Ellwood). He danced 8 steps and a double shuffle and won £6 (at a time when his father was earning £3 a week as a miner). Following this he worked for a week in a theatre but his father would not allow hime to continue a professional career.
He could only remember double shuffles and another step.
Information from an interview with Jackie and Maude Collicott 23/1/1982.