History of Wells Folk Dance Club

Wells Folk Dance Club was run by Val and Simon Knight from 1983 until September 1993 in the rehearsal room of Wells Little Theatre. In September 1993 they announced that they were changing from English Folk Dancing to Irish Set Dance. This left some members in a void as they did not wish to make this change.

In 1993 Brian Salway who was a caller from Bristol, retired to live in Wells. Brian was persuaded by Unity Barrett and Peter and Ama Bolton to start the club at the Portway Annex in Wells. Brian's conditions for running the club was that it was his club and the only assistance he required was the handling of the money by an independent member. Brian did not want to have a club committee.

Legislation changes concerning access for disadvantaged people, insurance and performing rights led Brian to accept that a club administrator should handle these matters as well as finance. David Beavis undertook these responsibilities and continued in this role until March 2012.

At the end of May 2004 Brian was taken ill and died suddenly. Two of the regular visiting callers, Roy Phillips and Ron Rudd, encouraged the members of the club to continue in the way that Brian had run the club. Roy and Ron came in June 2004 to call until the close for the summer break.

Members had agreed to continue with a weekly programme from September until the end of the following June; John Davis planned a programme of callers for this period.

The club had been advised by Somerset Adult Learning and Leisure that the Portway Annex would not be available from September 2004. Brian had already decided to move to Dinder Village Hall. It was also recognised by members that we needed to expand our membership and a recruitment drive was planned to coincide with the move and new format of callers devised by John Davis.

This has been the most successful change and at one time we had to limit the membership to 60 as that was the most we could accommodate at Dinder Village Hall.

Over the years the numbers dwindled and the club was closed from March 2020 until Spetember 2021 due to the covid pandemic. On return, we'd lost a few more members, some of whom passed away (not from covid), and some who were still wary about mixing in a crowd because of the infection risk. We carried on, getting a maximum of 18 dancers, but usually around 13.

With falling numbers the finances were getting tight - the weekly fee had been increased by 50p to £4, but this still wasn't covering the expenses and the club would have ran out of money - and there was a feeling that the hall would be increasing the rent. Because of this, and a disagreement with the hall, it was decided to move the club back into Wells and make a new start. The last evening at Dinder was on 14th June 2023 with Mic Spenceley calling and 13 dancers.

Enquiries were made at various venues in Wells, and St. Thomas church hall was found to be the best location and the club re-opened on 20th September 2023 with Ian Ludbrook calling. In retrospect, the move was considered to be a good thing, since we attracted new people who wouldn't have travelled to Dinder, and many members can now walk to the club.

With much advertising in local free papers and flyers around the town, we managed to attract more people. One of our best evening was in September 2025 when we had 20 dancers, and we thought things were beginning to improve. However, as usual, some people did come back, but many came once or twice then were never seen again. Consequently, numbers started to dwindle again. To add to the problems, the hall put the rent up and so we increased the weekly fee to £5. Also three of our regular callers announced that they would not be visiting again, due to their age; they were all in their 80s and were giving up calling. In addition, our Treasurer, also in his 80s, wanted to pass the baton to someone else, but no-one wanted to take the job on.

During a meeting of club members one evening, it was suggested that the lack of callers could be mitigated by going to fortnightly instead of weekly as at present. This would solve the caller problem, but not the financial problem. Other venues were sought in Wells, but were all too expensive. Consequently it was decided, reluctantly, to close the club, but with the hope that perhaps one day it could be revived.

The club's last eveing was on 8th July 2026, with Pat Hicks and Rosemary Hunt calling, with music provided by Steve Hunt and Ali (one half of Pair of Shears). We had 16 dancers.

The remaining funds were donated to Wells Academy of Theatrical Arts.