You may be aware that our regular Thursday night home, the Trinity URC Community Centre on High Street, has been on the market for sale since last year. We were recently informed that an agreement has been reached with Moorlands Church and the process for them to purchase the site has now begun. Consequently, we have been given notice of termination of our current leasing agreement for the use of the Centre. This makes us sad as URC has been LLC’s home for over 4 years (in fact, not many of our dancers have had any other Lancaster ‘home’ venue) but understand that circumstances change and we wish both URC and Moorlands the best of luck in their respective new homes.
This means a new chapter for LLC, and we have been scouring Lancaster for an alternative home for some time; no mean feat once you delve into the mind of the committee and teaching team and realise we have quite a list of “wishes”!
We have mulled over various options; do we try something new, or do we just replace the essentials? Listening to you, and not ones to often chose easy, the inevitable happened; we decided to go big…
We started with the essentials; space, floor quality, accessibility, availability. But we figured a move is the ideal opportunity to take the chance to try something new. To start delivering the extra things we have not been able to do so far. To start doing things that you want to see happen and things you want more of, based on what you have told us directly, via the weekly feedback box and in response to our recent survey. So we found an option that takes us beyond the essentials….
It is therefore with great excitement, and a healthy dose of butterflies, that we proudly announce the relocation of LLC to our brand new home, Our Lady’s Catholic College, effective 3rd May 2018!
The best bit is that we will have access to two rooms!
Room 1: Al’s Place
Room 2: Dawn’s Den
Having two rooms allows us to deliver Improver and Fundamental classes as we do now, whilst giving us space to have extra fun; options could include extra social dancing, guided practice and swing clinics, or additional classes in solo jazz, intermediate/+ level!
As an aside, we have chosen room names to honour some of the great influencers of the global Swing Dance Community: Al’s Place is named after Al Minns, one of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers who played an important role in the swing revival in the 1980s, and Dawn’s Den is named after Dawn Hampton, a lifelong performer who started her career aged three and who sadly died in 2016. We’d love to tell you about them – come and ask us!
Continue reading for the finer detail, but please do speak to one of us if you have any questions!
Lots of Lindy Love,
Gabbi, Chris & Vytas
LLC Committee
The Nitty Gritty:
From: 3rd May 2018
Where: Our Lady’s Catholic College, Morecambe Road, Lancaster LA1 2RX
What day: Thursday
What time: 19:30 – 22:00
Schedule: See Classes for full details
Room 1: Improver and Fundamental class followed by social
Room 2: Rotating schedule
Cost: £5 for the night; £3 social only (£4 / £3 for concessions)
Drop-in vs Blocks: We will continue to run all classes on a drop in basis
Parking: Ample and free parking in the school car park
It’s also really easy to walk to if you live in Lancaster City Centre. If you are unsure of where to go, we can facilitate car shares or meet ups for crocodile walks together.
The plan for Dawn’s Den:
We will vary how this room is used, and announce the activity schedule a couple of weeks in advance, but expect to see a mix of social / guided practice activity initially. We will build up activity gradually but we want to hear from you! Please tell us what works and what doesn’t!