Music record hits flat note despite team’s best efforts (From The Northern Echo)

Music record hits flat note despite team’s best efforts

8:10am Monday 28th July 2008 in

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HUNDREDS of dancers lined up in front of the stage. Nearly as many people lined up around the square to watch.

It took six minutes for the dancers, from toddlers to pensioners, to complete their world record attempt.

Although it took longer for the result to be confirmed, it was evident Stagecoach would not be successful in regaining their crown.

One boy had been successful in coercing his girlfriend to join in, even carrying her to the registration desk.

But there were hundreds more who continued to shop in the indoor and outdoor markets, who enjoyed a refreshing drink outside the Pennyweight and the Boot and Shoe, or who simply sat on the benches and watched. Only a handful of those in the town decided to join in the dance.

At 77, Jean Thurkettle, from Darlington, was one of the oldest to take part.

She said: “I came to do some shopping. I had heard about it, but I forgot it was today. It is all part and parcel of fun. I thought it was great. It is great to get people of all ages together like this more often.”

Volunteers like her were not enough, though.

Stagecoach, based in Darlington and Yarm, near Stockton, claimed the world record for the most number of people dancing to Locomotion at the turn of the century, when several hundred danced to Little Eva’s version of the Locomotion, at the North Road station, the home of the Locomotion No 1 train. On Saturday, it was painfully evident that despite the sunny weather, the number was not going to be high enough to beat the 1,752 required to reclaim the title and help put the gloss on the dance school’s tenth anniversary celebrations.

After the counting was done, school principal Trudy Hindmarsh said it was disappointing not to reclaim the title.

A total of 532 had registered for the event, though the number taking part was only 493.

Ms Hindmarsh said: “Looking on the positive side, the sun shone, everyone enjoyed themselves, and The Hands of Love Orphanage raised awareness and £284 of badly needed money to be sent out to Uganda.”

Among those disappointed were Rachael Deverell, 21, and Susannah Potter, 19, who were involved in the first record and had come to support their former teachers.

They said the record should have been reclaimed because Darlington is the home of the Locomotion.

Beaten but not defeated, Ms Hindmarsh said another attempt may be made on the school’s 15th anniversary.