News/Photos 2025
31.12.25: New Year's Eve Party Dance
We were fortunate to get Laverstock Village Hall for our New Year's Eve get together. RJ Montana sang live for us, Mike did the DJ-ing, we had an American Supper, Quiz and raffle. At midnight, Nick piped in the New Year on bagpipes with Auld Lang Syne and Scotland the Brave, followed by our traditional "shooting the moon". We have been able to kick-start our new charity with raffle takings etc. See photos/film clip below ....
13.12.25: Christmas Dance Party and Supper Evening
Our Christmas supper evening at Laverstock Village Hall saw 41 of our members attending, with a few, who were due to come, away with colds and viruses at the last minute. We had the usual Christmas meal of turkey, ham, quiche, salads, cheese and biscuits and desserts. Frank from the Laverstock Hall committee attended to receive our charity donation - see charity notes page.
We danced both line and partner dances and also did some country dancing so that everyone could join in. Mel spoke to the group during the supper acknowledging the changes we had made in 2025 (days and venues), speaking about the partner class which has built up to 12 couples with more interested and how pleasing it was to have got this up and running again following Mike's hip surgery. She thanked the group for their support and acknowledged how it brought people from all walks of life and for different reasons and that it was more than just a dance class.
The charity for 2026 was chosen from nominations and it will be ENCIRCLES, a local organisation who provide food and essential supplies to the homeless and those living in poverty.
Everyone rallied round to help throughout the evening. Special thanks to Emma who helped in the afternoon to put up Christmas decorations, Jan and Pete who arrived early to put chairs around, the team who set up the tables and the volunteers in the kitchen who washed and cleared up after the meal. It is brilliant teamwork.
14.11.25: Venue changes on Tuesday evenings
We used to meet at West Grimstead Village Hall on Tuesday evenings, but then moved to Harnham Hall in November 2024, which unfortunately gave us unexpected parking issues and we often did not have uninterrupted use of the hall.
We then decided from February 2025 to use Laverstock and Ford Sports Club which has a private room at the back. Sadly we have now moved from the Sports Club as several people have found the smaller dance space and the floor a problem. The staff have been very welcoming to us and some have really enjoyed the atmosphere there. See photos of our dancing at the Sports Club below ...
We have been given the opportunity to dance at Laverstock Village Hall instead on a Friday evening and this will commence on Friday 14th November 2025.
12th July 2025 - June's Charity Garden Party
What a lovely afternoon we had in June's garden to raise funds for our 2025 charity. June served us wonderful Italian food and drinks and was the perfect host in her lovely house and garden. She put on a fabulous raffle and we had a game of guess how many pasta twists were in a jar, all raising extra funds. She made a total of £575 for our charity fund; an amazing contribution.
Although it was very very hot, we danced on the patio in the shade in short bursts and she shielded us well with marquees and gazebos. Mike even resorted to sitting in the garage to do the music in order to see the screen as the light was so bright.
We cannot thank June and her family enough to putting on such a lovely event.
See photos and film clip below ....
18th May 2025 - Tea Dance at Wyvern College, Laverstock, Peter (Pedro) Barlow
Our first time hosting an afternoon tea dance at this new venue. We liked Alderbury previously, but we were finding there wasn't enough room for line and partner dancing and people were a bit squashed in together. Wyvern held 80 of us with no trouble and the feedback was very good. Everyone was facing the singer, plenty of room on the dance floor, good floor surface etc. Several people said they thought it had a great atmosphere. We put an urn in the corner with endless supplies of free tea,coffee and biscuits which went down well.
Pete Barlow as an absolute gentleman and lovely entertainer.
Thank you everyone who arrived early and stayed late to set up and pack up. especially Jan, Pete, Emma, Rob, Selena, Fred, Silv to name but a few ... Thank you also to Kay and team for doing the raffle and for those who donated prizes and bought tickets. We couldn't pull this off without the support we get from our Mulepacker members in the organising.
The raffle made £187 which is amazing. We sold several items of western clothing for the charity. Although this hall was more expensive than we usually pay, we were still able to donate £274 to the charity and have an enjoyable afternoon with plenty of space to dance.
Well done all! See photos and video clip below ...
23rd March 2025, Tea Dance at Alderbury Village Hall -
Mickey Page
We had a really full house with 64 people plus helpers at our tea dance. In fact, we could really do with a bigger hall, but Alderbury is a good location for so many and not too expensive as they know we raise funds for our charity. We have increasing attendees from Netley Marsh which is lovely, plus our own clubs, so we really are up to full capacity for these events and I am aware some people didn’t get to sit where they would have liked, so will give this some thought.
Mickey Page was great, as usual, and sang a mixture of old and new dances. We had tea/coffee and cakes throughout the afternoon thanks to our wonderful kitchen helpers: Ann, Carol (who are currently doing our beginners’ course, so great chance to see what we get up to) and Lu and Chloe (daughter and friend of Emma). They worked tirelessly through the afternoon and even cracked the dishwasher which did several quick washes throughout the afternoon – most impressive.
Thank you to everyone who made cakes for us – as you know the first hot drink and cake was included in your ticket entry price, then after that (in line with other clubs we go to) we charged for additional refreshments which all went into the charity pot. It is pretty standard now at social dances to pay £8 or even £10 for tickets and that is without refreshments included, so I think we do pretty well and still make some money, if you want extras, for the charity fund. Thank you all for making this work so well.
Many of you come early; Fred, Silv, Jan, Pete, Em, Rose … and we are really grateful for the help setting up, plus the grand effort at the end tidying up and putting furniture away. There’s quite a lot of work behind the scenes putting on these dances, so it is so nice to have the support and positive feedback with several people saying how much they enjoyed it.
So, in summary, we were able to give £286 to the charity fund after expenses of the hall, insurance, singer, refreshments etc. Of this £150 was made from the raffle – thanks everyone for donating prizes and of course to Marg who sells the tickets. £34 was taken in extra refreshments. Some photos below, but several film clips to follow.
8th February 2025 - Mulepackers Social/Charity Dance at Laverstock Village Hall - Rob Montana
We held our first in-house social dance at Laverstock Village Hall on 8th February. RJ Montana (Rob) very kindly offered to sing for us - a last minute surprise gesture. Mike DJ's the first part of the evening; Rob then took us up to supper time and then closed the evening for us. We had a lovely American Supper, danced, ate, drank and chatted at the same time raising £60 for our charity. We welcomed Gwen and Mike to the fold - our latest members who are now doing the beginners' course. As this was a great success and Laverstock Hall (although smaller than Alderbury) is a great venue for our own members' dances, we will probably do a re-run. Thanks everyone for making it a great night - especially Rob for entertaining us. See photos below ...
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