It would be very interesting to hear stories of the old Friday night dances at Alf Golds top floor place, overlooking the old Peace Gardens, especially in the mid-1950s. An old pal of mine met his wife there around 1956-7, and there were a lot of regulars who must now be in retirement.

Went quite a few times, but didn't compare with the City Hall or Locarno

I went and thought it funny when you had to all crouch down when you got to the slope in the ceiling.:hihi: And always had to walk to the bus stop with my shoes in my hand my feet were killing me.

We used to go on Friday evening, and, at the half-time break in the dancing, we would nip down all those steps (it seemed like hundreds) and pop across to Marsden's Milk Bar opposite the Peace Gardens. We were "very sophisticated" teenagers! Tunes I recall (always played on a 78rpm gramaphone records!) from those nights include "It's Almost Tomorrow" and "Rock'n'Roll Waltz".
Girls I remember from that 1950s era include Jean Dickinson (I think she came from Essex Road, but she went on to attend Leeds University and disappeared from the local dancing scene), Ann Addy and Sheila Pearson (they both came from the Southey Green area).

I thought someone might have some memories of Alf G. I believe he was an award-winning dancer. In the 1950s he had a good team of teachers, and I thought someone might remember some of them.

I went to Alfred Gold's dance school for a number of years. the school itself was based at Handsworth, then closed and we had to go to classes at St Paul's.