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We had a ball

Damon Wilkinson
8/12/2007

LILIAN Buckley had to fib about her age the first time she went to the Carlton.

As a 13-year-old she was a few months shy of the age limit but still managed to bluff her way in.

And what she saw inside instilled in her  a love of dancing which survives to this day.

Now aged 75, Lilian, of Hilltop Drive, Balderstone, said: “The first time I went the woman on the ticket counter didn’t believe I was 14 but I managed to persuade her and she let me in.

“It was absolutely gorgeous inside. I can still remember the balcony and the dancefloor.

“As soon as I was 14 that was it, I was there all the time.

“I still go dancing now with some of the old Carltonites and I love reminiscing because there were wonderful times.”

If you went to the Carlton in the early 60s chances are you’ll probably recognise Eileen Grindrod.

She worked in the cloakroom alongside Lily Whittle and Lynn Chadderton-Evans between 1961 and 1963

She said: “Ernie Mills was the manager at that time and he was a fabulous person.

“He was a very fatherly figure who insisted that his staff treated him with respect but he also looked after us very well.

“I used to love working there. It would get very busy in the cloakroom at about 11pm when all the girls would come rushing out trying to catch the last bus home.

“It was an absolutely fabulous place.

“When I wasn’t working I would go dancing there and it is just a shame there is nowhere like that for the teenagers now.”