Rathkenny Hall at 75: One More Dance in the Ballroom of Romance...

Aishling Monaghan

From the showbands and country dances of the 1950s, the music has brought generations of dancers through the doors of Rathkenny Hall. Last Saturday, they returned for one more dance.

Dancing has been part of Rathkenny Hall's story almost from the beginning.

When the hall opened in 1951, country dances were among the great social occasions in rural Ireland. The céilí bands and, as the decade progressed, the increasingly popular showbands brought live music to halls around the country, and Rathkenny was part of that dancing tradition.

People travelled from neighbouring parishes, mostly on bicycles, which would be left parked outside the hall for the night. And not a soul would touch them. Safer times, as those who remember them will tell you.

Inside, there was a certain etiquette to the dancing. The men generally gathered on one side of the hall, the women on the other, and any young fellow who fancied asking a girl for a dance had to summon up the courage to cross the floor.

As one gentleman recalled recently, it was a long walk across the hall, but an even longer one back if she said no!

And if you bought a girl a mineral, there was a fair chance you might be walking her home afterwards.

The mineral bar was tucked away under the stage, while Bridgie Maguire was a familiar face in the cloakroom.

One gentleman remembers cycling to Rathkenny Hall as a 14-year-old, having already been to the pictures in Slane. That was around 70 years ago, but he can still picture the people seated around the sides of the hall and others sitting up on the raised area watching the dancers.

There were the waltzes, the quicksteps and the foxtrots, the familiar faces and, of course, the tea and sandwiches.

Maureen had a good idea

years later, when she saw an opportunity to bring regular ballroom dancing to Rathkenny Hall.

Maureen and her late husband Jim were great dancers themselves. They loved their ballroom dancing and Maureen could see that there was still a real appetite for it.

So she brought the idea of holding a regular Ballroom of Romance to the hall committee.

They weren't particularly enthusiastic at first.

But Maureen was convinced it would work, and she persisted.And she was right.

The Ballroom of Romance became a regular fixture on the second Saturday of every month, continuing for well over 25 years and bringing dancers from Rathkenny and beyond through the hall doors.

For Maureen and Jim, it was something they enjoyed enormously, and over the years many friendships developed among those who returned month after month.

Maureen particularly remembers the Ballroom of Romance's 25th anniversary celebration, a special milestone for something that had begun with a suggestion the committee hadn't been too sure about.

Last Saturday night, 17th October, the Ballroom of Romance returned to Rathkenny Hall as part of its 75th anniversary celebrations.

And what a night it was.

The revival was organised by Kathy Fox, who was determined to bring back one of the hall's best-loved traditions for the anniversary, and the response showed that the appetite for a good night's dancing was still there.

The band Unity provided the music, and couples were soon making their way around the floor.

Some had been dancing in Rathkenny for decades. For others, the evening brought back memories of husbands, wives and dancing partners who were no longer there to share the floor.

There was something particularly lovely about seeing Maureen Connolly back in the hall where she and Jim had enjoyed so many Saturday nights together.

Jim was sadly no longer there to take her hand for a dance, but Maureen was there to see the Ballroom of Romance return, thanks to Kathy Fox and everyone who helped organise the evening.

And looking around at the dancers enjoying themselves, you couldn't help thinking that Maureen had been right all those years ago.

There was still plenty of dancing left in Rathkenny.