Interview
“They were the most
wonderful, encouraging
parents you could wish
for, and once they could
see my commitment
they were behind me all
the way.”
Linda with Ruth,
her mother
Linda at 5 years old
“I did have a lot of support from my
mum and dad, as I always had done” she
says. “They were the most wonderful,
encouraging parents you could wish for,
and once they could see my commitment
they were behind me all the way.”
In those less technologicially advanced
days of 1981, the school’s set-up costs
were minimal: the girls rented a church
hall and had help to buy their biggest
piece of kit – a tape recorder that was to
be their pride and joy for 10 years.
Over a period of 21 years, they worked
hard to build a thriving dance school – the
one that Linda would ultimately choose to
walk away from when she finally followed
the call to the Isle of Wight in 2002.
New beginnings
The long-discussed decision to move
was finally prompted after Ken was made
redundant from his manager job, and
they decided it would be a good time to
follow their hotel-owning dream.
The move was literally ‘lock, stock and
barrel’, and Linda and Ken were joined
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on the Island by her parents, who already
owned a caravan in Shanklin and moved
into it to enjoy a permanent park home
life.
Meanwhile Linda and Ken set to work
at the Suncliffe Hotel, throwing their
energies into the many renovations and
a whole series of promotional ideas to
drum up business.
It proved a tough experience – not
least because they had to maintain their
family life, with two primary school-aged
children, Jonathan and Stephanie, still at
home.
“We gave it all we had, but it was a hard
life” Linda admits. Probably tougher than
they had bargained for, because by 2008
they were facing bankruptcy.
During this massive low-point in
their lives, Linda and Ken had to stay
temporarily in a guest house whilst their
youngsters Jonathan and Stephanie
were taken in by Linda’s elder daughter
Charlotte, who was by then married.
Not surprisingly, Linda went into a
depression as they tried to consider their
next steps.
And as it turned out, their next steps
were to involve dancing!
After several months they found a home
to rent and the ever-supportive Charlotte
issued her mother with a challenge: “She
said come on Mam, why don’t you just go
back to what you do best” Linda recalls.
“Charlotte was absolutely brilliant.
She said she’d help me, we could do it
together, and so in 2009 we launched
with our first class in Brading School, and
we haven’t looked back”.
On the up
Within a year of starting out with just
15 pupils, the enthusiastic mum and
daughter team were coming up with
ideas left right and centre, expanding
the classes on offer and attracting pupils
ranging from toddlers to over-60s. To
date, they run around 36 classes a week
and have about 120 pupils at their two
current locations - Shanklin St Pauls
Church Hall and Godshill Scout Hut.
In 2010 they decided they’d like to give
dance-mad youngsters the chance to