Dance club family celebrates 50 years of classes

Pat and Tom Lait bought St Matthews Hall and turned it into a dance studio

The family owners of a 50-year-old dance club said they were proud of their achievements.

Lait Dance Club, which offers ballroom and Latin classes at St Matthews Hall in Ipswich, was set up in 1974 by husband and wife Tom and Pat Lait.

On Saturday, they will mark 50 years since the school opened, with cabaret performances and a champagne supper, alongside their children, teachers and students.

Mrs Lait told BBC Radio Suffolk she never imagined the school would still be running decades later.

"I didn't even contemplate 50 years on, when we first started," she said.

"We were local dance champions and we thought, where do we go from here?

"It was either, completely change our lives, move up to London and go for higher honours or stay where we are and turn professional, which was the path we chose.

"We had some small classes at Bramford, Felixstowe and Hitcham, but we thought, it's time we actually started our own premises and we hired the YMCA on Norwich Road three days a week.

"Then gradually it got bigger and people started taking medal tests and then we developed a few competitors and it took off from there."

The couple bought St Matthews Hall and renovated it into today's dance studio.

Their children, Bruce and Annette, similarly took up dancing and have gone on to win prestigious titles and even represent England in competitions.

Lait Dance Club will mark its 50th anniversary on Saturday

Mr and Mrs Lait are themselves former East Anglian Ballroom Dancing champions and train people of all ages from beginner level to professional.

They explained that, in the 1970s, dancing was "the thing to do".

"You went to a dance to meet a boyfriend or a girlfriend," Mrs Lait continued.

"Whereas nowadays it's people who are inspired by programmes like Strictly who feel like they'd like to have a go."

The family said they were proud of everything they had achieved over the past five decades.

"It's not just the competitive achievements, it's the group social achievements that are important," Mrs Lait added.

"Let's hope we can continue to do all these things that we've done and improve on it in the future."