THE only original member of the Hamilton & District Old Time Dance Club left is Robert Brody, who is very proud to be celebrating 45 years of the club’s dancing this year.

To celebrate, the club will be hosting a whole weekend of dance beginning Friday, May 3 at 8pm, in the Peace Memorial Hall at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, when there will be a cake cutting and again more dancing on Saturday, May 4 at 8pm, and on Sunday, May 5, in the Yulecart Hall from 1pm.

Mr Brody is immensely proud of the club’s history and said it all came about in 1978, when Bill and Yvonne Beaton from Coojar, attended a Saturday night dance in Wesley Hall behind the Hamilton High School (Baimbridge) school building.

“My father, Fin Brody and myself, along with Duncan and Verna McIntosh from Merino were there that night enjoying the dancing,” he said.

“Those functions were run by Mr Murray Beaton and his wife Lorna. Mrs Murray played the piano, Tommy Moore on drums and later, Geoff Beaton from Coleraine joined the band on saxophone.

“At supper time that night, Bill and Yvonne approached about 15 people asking them if they would be interested in starting an old-time dance club in Hamilton and of course, the answer was ‘yes’.

“We organised to meet in the hall on a Saturday evening in between the usual fortnightly dances.

“Unfortunately, the hall became unavailable due to double bookings, so Bill Beaton organised a small advisement in The Spectator and it read; “The people that were asked to start a dance club in Hamilton, the venue has been changed from the High School Hall to Braeside Park Hall beside the railway line in Gray Street”.

Mr Brody said it was overwhelming to go there that night and have over 90 people attend coming from as far away as Coleraine, Balmoral, Casterton, Merino, Heywood, Penshurst, Glenthompson, Victoria Valley and others from Hamilton.

“On that night we were taught two dances,” he said.

Then on July 7, 1979, there was a meeting to form a club, however, insurance presented as a problem.

“Duncan and Verna McIntosh then approached the Wimmera Old Time Dance Association Inc to see if the Hamilton & District Old Time Dance Club could join them and share the insurance cover.

“The answer was ‘yes’,” Mr Brody said.

“We held a meeting on October 27, 1979 to officially form the Hamilton & District Old Time Dance Club.

“Our club only used the Wimmera club’s insurance for two years until we raised enough money to afford our own insurance.”

The first president was Murray Beaton, Vice president, Cliff Kennett, secretary/treasurer, Max Steff, and a committee which included Fin and Robert Brody, Duncan and Verna McIntosh, Lorna Beaton and Bill and Yvonne Beaton. They used Wesley Hall until it was dismantled in 2020.

The membership of the club rose quickly.

By 1982 we had over 170 members of which over forty were under the age of 21 which made the club the biggest old time dance club membership in Victoria at that time.

There were dance clubs in Warrnambool, Portland, Mount Gambier and other areas and the question was raised to form a local association of those old-time dance clubs.

It was based in the Penshurst and Heywood halls and known as the South West Old Time Dance Association. Members of the Hamilton & District Old Time Dance Club then taught the dances they knew to other clubs.

 “We ran two major dance weekends here in Hamilton, consisting of Friday night balls, dancing Saturday afternoons and Saturday nights in the months of April and September for many years,” Mr Brody said.

“New dances were demonstrated and taught by several members of the club from scripts coming out of England, the real home of old-time dance.

“The dance club decided to run circular waltzing competitions in the Hamilton Town Hall between the years of 1982-1986; they were published in the The Spectator and on television.

“In those days, we were blessed with live dance bands; Ian Stevenson from Hamilton, McKinnons and the Metrotones from Warrnambool, Tarragul from Portland, and Ken Tschampion and Miles Apart from Ararat.

“In later years; Beaton’s band from Coleraine, Ron Bell from Hamilton, Ted Taylor from Tyrendarra, Ivan Landwehr and Lindsay Linke, and now Graeme Hallam on saxophone, all from Hamilton.”

In 1992 Aileen Wiliams moved a motion to hold dance classes in the Peace Memorial Hall.

“Aileen and myself, with the help of other club members and CD music ran these classes every Wednesday night for 14 weeks.

“Once again, the attendance was overwhelming with over 90 people ranging in ages from 15 to elderly. Fourteen dances were taught.

“The question was then asked where do we go to enjoy them?

“The motion was then put to start the Saturday dance on the first Saturday of every month from March until November and there are still people who attended those classes, dancing today.”

Mr Brody said over the years, the club also taught a lot of debutante sets for local schools, danced for the elderly for them to enjoy, and at one stage ran balls in the Town Hall for the disabled who were also taught to dance - all done voluntarily.

He was especially proud to say that the Hamilton & District Old Time Dance Club had raised many thousands of dollars over the years for charities, including the Royal Children’s Hospital every year, as well as many community groups who helped to run the Saturday night dances.

“When our 40 years was reached, we held a major celebration in the Baimbridge College Hall,” Mr Brody said.

“We had visitors from all over Victoria and interstate.”

Mr Brody said in 2007, he was very blessed to be able to start dancing with Helen Moore as his partner, and together with other members of the club, had been able to enjoy dancing every Saturday night in the area, and the club nights on Monday nights.

“It has given me so much pleasure to have held a position on the committee, dance leader, and to have served as president for many years for this club since its inception and made so many friends.”