By Lesley Walsh
PENSIONERS keen to put on their dancing shoes feel let down by Ards and North Down Council after their requests for monthly tea dances on council property fell on deaf ears.
Members of Ards and North Down Dance Group say the council has repeatedly ignored their appeals for the creation of a dance policy for elderly people.
The dancers, from all across the borough, want to waltz and do the quick- step at venues like the ‘underused’ Queen’s Hall in Newtownards, where they have in the past managed to secure council-run dances – just not often enough.
Citing evidence from Age UK which asserts the benefits of therapeutic recreation like dancing for pensioners, particularly those suffering dementia, group member Sam Barbour says they’ve been asking the council to grant their wish for the past four years.
Mr Barbour said a number of other councils across Northern Ireland provide regular tea dances, including Derry City and Strabane District Council, while others like Ballymoney also host regular tea dances.
Belfast City Council even forks out substantial sums of money, supported through funding from Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, to keep older people moving and grooving alongside their peers as part of the Age Friendly Belfast Plan.
The group said at their ages – the oldest member being 96 years-old – they are all ‘well past retirement age’ and no longer have the capacity to organise themselves into a fully constituted group which could attract grant funding from the council.
Mr Barbour said his group of longstanding ratepayers had sent correspondence to the council ‘more than once’ in an effort to speak to the relevant authority, but that ‘we never really had a reply or an explanation of the situation’.
In a letter to the council’s chief executive Susie McCullough, Mr Barbour restated the group’s repeated calls for monthly tea dances ‘for four years or more now’.
“In that time we have been given two dances per year. We are exhorted by our council, among other things, to dance to keep ourselves out of hospital, and Age UK say dancing is the most therapeutic sport/recreation for the elderly.
“Our age group form almost a quarter of the borough population and have contributed more than any other community group to the rates levy. The dances we have been given, in the underused Queen’s Hall, proved extremely popular and are a credit to the enthusiasm and work of the council staff who found the funds and organised the events.”
“Other councils run monthly, and some more frequent, dance programmes of this kind recognising the benefits for the elderly and the returns from having a healthier population.”
Mr Barbour asked: “May we be forgiven for thinking that there is a little condescension here or some sort of discrimination even if inadvertent?”
A council spokesman said Mr Barbour’s proposal for monthly tea dances was previously reviewed during the council’s leisure consultation in late 2024 and that while it was ‘noted, it was not progressed’.
Explaining that was because the dancers were not a formalised, constituted group, the statement continued ‘we would like to reiterate our offer of support to the Ards and North Down Dance Group to become constituted’, which it said would open ‘access to council and external funding opportunities and help unlock more sustainable support’.
“However, we would encourage the group to contribute to the ongoing Community Strategy review, which is currently seeking public input on how council facilities, such as community halls and centres, can best serve local needs. Their insights, particularly regarding the benefits of dance for older people, would be incredibly valuable.”
The spokesman said the council has funding for three dances per year, and added it caters for the over 60s of the borough through its Active Ageing Programme in a bid to offer ‘opportunities for older residents to enhance their health and wellbeing through physical recreational activities’.
