I relocated to Leeds after living in Newcastle upon Tyne for 71 years.

In Newcastle I had a very active life. Dancing, walking, involved in my Church. Sadly that all came to an end and I was in the group of people that could go for a daily walk and that was it!!!! The Pandemic had a massive impact on my reasons to move. Family could only be seen via FaceTime but not the same as physical contact.

Leeds was a city I was familiar with as 2/3 of my family live here - myself and my husband travelled to Leeds every two to three months until March 2020…So while still fit we took the big decision to move to Leeds. We knew the area we now live in quite well and we were very familiar with the City Centre which was a plus in our decision to move. When we moved March 2021 we still couldn’t visit family in their houses so our first few months here were spent well wrapped up visiting and having a coffee in the garden. This did though give us the opportunity to go for walks and explore our new area.

We had taken a huge step and at late 70s early 80s it was hard to get back into activities we enjoyed. So much easier when you have young children and you are taking and collecting from school. I had done tap dancing since my mid 50s. I had been part of a class of 30+ people in Newcastle. Those classes of course all stopped. I didn’t realise how much a part of my life it was so I was eager to find somewhere during the day that did tap classes for older people.

Our son-in-law gave us a flyer for an open day for Heydays. At first we were a bit hesitant as we thought it would be for old people. My daughter pointed out it was for Older people and that’s a difference. We did go to the open day and we are so glad we did.

Heydays has lead us to do some very interesting things as well as meeting so many like minded older people.

The variety of dance styles I have experienced in the past 18 months at Heydays has been amazing. A lady in one of the dance classes told me about a tap class for older people at Mabgate Mill. I joined this class in May last year. It’s run by Ceris Manger who is an excellent teacher and teaches us some intricate routines which keeps the brain and body working which is very important as we get older.

I feel our move was right and I have now got a nice mix of classes, friends and very near my family.