United at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom for the first time in 70 years, ex-members of the children’s ballet

But that’s what the trio did last week, the first time they had all been together on that famous sprung dance floor since those halcyon days in the early 1950s.

All three ladies, who were born and bred in Blackpool and still live in the town, are now in their 80s.

However, they have vivid memories of those few years in which they were part of Blackpool’s rich entertainment history.

They had planned to meet up for their birthdays two years ago, when Marie and Mavis would have been 80, but they couldn’t make it because of the Covid lockdown.

The Tower Children’s Ballet was founded in 1903 by Madame Pauline Rivers and was performed annually until 1974, although it was revived for the Tower’s centenary.

Dancers came not only from Blackpool but from across the North of England - and despite being children they were all paid for their efforts.

With several performances a week during the holidays, beautiful made-to-measure outfits and dazzlingly professional and flawless routines, the Tower Children’s Ballet was once of Blackpool’s huge attractions for decades.

Some girls went onto become professional dancers all over the world.

By the time Marie, Mavis and Monica joined in 1952, it was well-established.

Yet they were there at a unique moment in the history of the nation - their four years in the ballet included a special show celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953.

Last week, with the newly refurbished ballroom open, the dance floor freshly sprung and the famous Wurlitzer organ sounding, the ladies were back there together again.

Marie, 81,of Ridgewood Avenue, Blackpool, said: “The ballroom looks beautiful, doesn’t it? It’s so lovely to be back here again.

“We all feel so lucky to have been party of the Children’s Ballet.

“We all went to different schools in Blackpool so we’d never met each other before.

“But we all became friends and then found out our birthdays were just a few days apart.

“We were there in the Queen’s Coronation year and here we are in the year of her Platinum Jubilee, who’d have thought that?

“All the dancers were paid and I remember getting paid 12 and six for evening shows and then 15 shillings.

“Getting paid for something you loved was quite something, especially wen you were a child!”

They all had to audition to get into the ballet, which was then run by strict mistress Madame Annette Shultz, but they don’t recall being nervous.

Monica, 82, of Stadium Avenue, South Shore, said: “I was in school playing around and doing acrobatic moves and a friend said I should audition for the Tower Ballet.

“So I went along and I had to do an acrobat routine, set to music. I wasn’t nervous but when they said I’d got it I was amazed, really thrilled.”

The Tower Ballet was fun but it was also hard work and all the girls had to show total commitment - missing rehearsals wasn’t an option.

Rehearsals were every night after school and usually took place in the Tower Ballroom, but in those days the Tower Company also owned the Winter Gardens so other builds would be sued.

Mavis, 81, who lives on Speyside, South Shore, said: “One of routines involved some of us being drummers and we had to practice by beating a rubber pad in time with the huge clock.

“The Tower made its own costumes and you had to go along to the Tower Wardrobe in Birley Street to get them, all made to measure.

“And the Tower paid for them too.”

Monica recalls one embarrassing episode during a maid’s skipping routine at a live show. She said: “We were dancing in our red and white checked dresses and my knicker elastic snapped.

“I could feel them starting to slip down underneath my dress and I shouted to my friend above the music that my knickers were coming down.

“But I didn’t realise there was a microphone hanging down above my head and everyone heard it!

“I had to just kick them off and carry on - and I’m still looking for them!”

Marie has fond memories of the dancers flocking to the Locheads Cafe after each show for fish and chips and gravy, with bread and butter.

She said: “It’s a shame the Tower Children’s Ballet stopped, but for every girl who was in it, over the years, they will have wonderful memories. I know the three of us do.”