Clog dancer from Stanley. Pupil of Tiny Allison.
Doreen began attending classes with Tiny Allison in about 1946 when she was 7. She continued (with a year’s break in her teens) until about 1966, in the later years helping Tiny with the class.
She learned her clog material from when she first went to the classes until after the Northumberland and Durham Championships at Hexham in 1949, after which Tiny effectively stopped teaching clog dance. Doreen competed in the under 10 class at that competition.
The steps which she was able to teach the IRT were subsequently published in Metherell, C., Tiny Allison. The Hornpipe Steps, Newcastle: Newcastle Series, (2009). Doreen acted as a focus of research on Tiny Allison, contacting other pupils and facilitating the collection of the material. Without her efforts the recovery of Tiny’s steps would have been much more difficult.
Information from interviews with Doreen Kerr on 1/3/1982 and 8/3/1982.