In May, thousands of couples will gather at Saltburn, on the North-East coast, in a bid to stage the largest ever mass waltz. Peter Barron meets the oldest dancer to register for the record-breaking attempt

AS a fresh-faced kid with a momentous life as a war hero ahead, Eddie Straight blagged himself a job selling cigarettes and chocolate on Saltburn pier, overlooking the steel-grey North Sea.

Working for a hard taskmaster of a local businesswoman he thinks was called Betty Osborne, he supplemented his meagre income by scanning the sand for coins dropped by careless day-trippers.

It was a long time ago. Eddie is 96 now and, on May 19, he’ll be back on the windswept pier as the oldest participant in a bid by Age UK to break the world record for the most couples waltzing at the same time.

The record was set in Bosnia ten years ago, when 1,510 couples waltzed simultaneously, but Saltburn aims to have more than 2,000 pairs donning their dancing shoes on the pier and along the promenade.

Strictly Come Dancing star Mark Benton, born at nearby Guisborough, will be taking part – but he’d be the first to salute Eddie as the main star.

The old war veteran’s waltzing partner on the big day will be Jan Shaw, one of the activities co-ordinators at Four Seasons Care Centre in Saltburn, where he now lives. Jan’s colleague Sharon Lewis had read about the waltzing world record and saw it as an ideal opportunity to have some fun. Five other residents from the centre will be dancing too but Eddie has the distinction of being the oldest.

He and Jan have been practising hard to be Saltburn’s version of Strictly’s latest champions Ore Oduba and Karen Clifton. Yesterday, the pair were enjoying a blast of sea air as Eddie – in a woolly hat and sturdy jacket to protect him against the breeze bouncing off the sea – expertly guided Jan through her paces.

“He lights up when he hears the music and he really knows his stuff,” says Jan. “He knows the steps better than me and he’s such a gentleman – it’s a joy to dance with him.”

Eddie served his dancing apprenticeship 80 years ago as a teenager when he was courting Skelton lass Ina Bennison in the Pier Ballroom, six miles up the coast at Redcar. He must have made all the right moves because his childhood sweetheart became his wife of more than 60 years.

Ina died ten years ago, and Eddie’s memory is fading now, but his eyes sparkle when he remembers their far-off dancing days.

“She was absolutely gorgeous,” he recalls. “Those old-fashioned dances, like the waltz and the foxtrot, were a lot better than all this jittery modern stuff.”

That said, Eddie is reassuringly complimentary about his new dance partner. “She’s light as a feather on her feet,” he says as Jan strikes a dramatic pose in front of a small but appreciative seafront audience of dog walkers and day-trippers tucking into their fish and chips.

Eddie is already something of a local celebrity due to his wartime exploits when he was among the British troops who liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, where 70,000 holocaust victims died.

Having risen to Company Sergeant Major with the 11th Armoured Tank Regiment, he helped free prisoners and capture SS officers, including Josef Kramer, the dreaded “Beast of Belsen”.

After Belsen, Eddie was transferred to the Burmese jungle to fight the Japanese and he can still conjure up the tribal dance moves he learned along the way.

“They taught us a bit of tribal dancing and we taught ‘em how to waltz,” he says, with the hint of a smile.

Jan, conscious that she and Eddie will be centre of attention come 2pm on May 19, is anxious to practise a few more steps before they head back, but her dance partner has other ideas.

“Nah, let’s go for a pint,” he says.

After all he’s been through in his incredible life, Eddie Straight is confident of waltzing through his latest challenge.

  • To find out more about Saltburn’s record-breaking waltz, go to www.ageuk.org.uk/teesside/ or call Pat Chambers on 01642 805500.