Dancing is still in our hearts

(Left to right): Joseph Ritson, Andé Tyrer (Lyons), Cagney
Cagney is named after the American film star James Cagney, who was no mean dancer!
Photograph from collection of J. Ritson

Together with Frank Spencer and Peggy Spencer, Walter Laird and Andé Lyons were one half of the cabaret dancing act the 'Dual Dancers'. Building upon the popular development in dancing during and immediately after the Second World War the 'Dual Dancers' were demonstrated a wide repertoire of dances. Frank, Peggy, Walter and Andé were among the best exponents of Ballroom and Latin American dances, which can explain in part their popularity at the time.

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"Let there be music and dance"

A photograph of Walter Laird and Andé Lyons during a cabaret demonstration
'Laird and Lyons', together with Frank Spencer and Peggy Spencer, formed the 'Dual Dancers'

Photograph from collection of Mrs Andé Tyrer (Lyons)

Together with Frank Spencer and Peggy Spencer, Walter Laird and Andé Lyons were one half of the cabaret dancing act the 'Dual Dancers'. Building upon the popular development in dancing during and immediately after the Second World War the 'Dual Dancers' were demonstrated a wide repertoire of dances. Frank, Peggy, Walter and Andé were among the best exponents of Ballroom and Latin American dances, which can explain in part their popularity at the time.

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The Dual Dancers in Cabaret

The 'Dual Dancers' in action
(Left to right: Peggy Spencer, Frank Spencer, Walter Laird, Andé Lyons)
Photograph from collection of Mrs Andé Tyrer (Lyons)

Among the more positive legacies of the Second World War were music and dancing, especially after the Americans entered the war in 1941. They brought with them new styles of music - most notably perhaps that of the Glenn Miller Orchestra - and exciting rhythmical dances such as the Jitterbug.

Ballroom Dancing was already a popular activity in Britain before the war and Victor Silvester - leader of a Dance Orchestra, a dance teacher and a former World Professional Dance Champion - was known all over the world. Among the best known Ballroom Dancers during and after the war were the 'Dual Dancers': Frank Spencer and Peggy Spencer and Walter Laird and Andé Lyons (seen in the photograph above).

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“You may forget ….”

Friday 6 June 2008: St Nicholas’ Chapel, Whitehaven, Cumbria.

The West Cumbria Normandy Veterans Association Branch Standard has been handed over to Father Matthew Carney O.S.B. (left) (R.C. Chaplain) and Reverend John Kelly (right) (Anglican Chaplain). The Standard was subsequently laid up in St James’, Whitehaven.

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"Men may forget, you may forget, but God will remember...."

Brigadier Derek Mills-Roberts,
First Special Service Brigade,
Normandy, 1944

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November 2008 is a key date in the history of the West Cumbria Branch of the Normandy Veterans Association. Photographs documents, files and minute books about the Branch's activities between 1987 and 2008 are handed over to the Cumbria County Archives for safekeeping, and so that in years to come others will be able to know something about the Branch and its members.

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