She may have just turned 90, but sprightly great-grandmother Joan Pedley has no intention whatsoever of hanging up her dancing shoes just yet.
When she pulls on her her sparkly dresses to strut her stuff on the dancefloor, Joan proves you’re only as old as you feel. She first took up dancing more than 50 years ago in a bid to fill her spare time and has never looked back. And after decades of regular dancing she has vowed not to let age get in her way and still practises three times a week.
She never misses the opportunity to get dressed up for her sequence dancing classes every Friday, Saturday and Monday night to showcase her finely-tuned skills in the foxtrot, rumba and waltz.
“I first started dancing because my husband Don was a councillor and my daughter had just started courting and so I was in the home on my own,” she said.
“I thought, ‘I’m not having this., so I went out and started dance classes.
“That was more than 50 years ago.
“I used to go five times a week when I first started and now I go three times,” she adds.
“I still love it and have no intention of hanging up my dance shoes just yet.”
Joan, who is mother to 65-year-old Ann as well as having two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, lives in Farrington Road, Ettingshall Park.
And she says she loves the company of the other dancers.
She even threw a special party to celebrate her 90th birthday with other members of the dance school at Woodfield Junior School, in Penn, last night.
“I live on my own and it’s nice to have the company when I go dancing,” says Joan.
“I’ve got some pretty dresses and skirts for dancing and so I can get dressed up and go along,” she said.
She adds that there’s more to it than the dancing.
“It’s more like a social gathering for me and I still love it.
“I suppose it keeps me fit and healthy as well,” she added.
Share this article:
What are these?