The meeting places in the 60s and 70s. the Irish Ballrooms 

                      MIAMI SHOWBAND , SEAPOINT BALLROOM 1975

                            

 

Every night at the dance all the guys would line up down one side of the dance floor and all the girls would line up down the opposite side.  Once the band kicked off with their music the guys would make a dash across the floor for the prettiest girl and ask her to dance.  Most of the girls were in groups and there would be much discussion between them as to whether she should accept the guys invitation.  Once the main rush had ceased the only people left on either side of the dance floor would be would be the shy and or plain boys and girls mostly from out of town.  So you can now picture the scene.  The townies jiving to the Rock n Roll and the Culchies stepping on each others toes trying to make their way around the dancers in the middle.

Then there was the outfits, and again you could instantly tell who came from the town and who came in from the country.

The Girls were in their Beehive hair styles with enough Lacquer to sink half a dozed battle ships. 1960's was the decade when hair took on a life of its own. From bobs to beehives, hair was very big, exaggerated and even tortured. Back combing was an art form and the bigger the hair do the more inspirational you were.

If the fellow asked you to go for a Mineral, during the dance, you knew the night just became more interesting.
*gr*
The next question was,
"can I walk you home?"

Such great times we had. The girls all lined up in the toilet, putting on the  perfume, lipstick, and the bee hive hairdos and the guys in the Gents combing in their DA's and Quiff's and checking their Jackets with the Velvet Collars.

The guys of course had their DA hair styles full of Brylcream, enough grease to service a fleet of trucks, wearing their Winkle Picker shoes and their  Drain Pipe trousers.  Then came the Flares and the Platforms.

The DA was adopted as an emblematic coiffure by disaffected young males all over the English-speaking world and beyond (particularly in France and Sweden) during the 1950s. In Britain as well as Ireland it was part of the visual identity of Teddy Boys and Rockers, along with the Quiff and the Elephant's Trunk.

There was no liqueur ('the hard stuff''), (sprits) allowed inside the Ballroom.  The strongest drink was Lemonade. Very few people had cars and if you didn't have a bicycle you had to walk. Some people walked five miles or more miles, bopped from about 9 o'clock until 2 o'clock then walked home afterwards. And then on Sunday morning you had to be up bright and early to walk or bike to Mass for 9 o'clock.

In those days everyone went everywhere on a bike but nobody locked them up.  You park it up against a wall somewhere and it would still be there when you went back for it.

Oh the memories!

                         Phil Mack playing and singing ; Before I Met You