Tales from Portlaw Volume Nine: The Last Dance

By William Forde

I was born in Portlaw and when my time comes to lie at the other side of the green sod, it is my wish that one third of my ashes shall be placed upon my grandparents' grave, William and Mary Fanning, along with my uncles, Willie Fanning and Johnnie Fanning who are also buried there. A further third of my ashes will be placed on my parents’ grave at Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire with the remaining third at a spot on the Haworth Moor.

After writing a musical play around 2005, I stopped writing for a number of years. It was only after I had met Sheila that the idea to resume my writing became a serious consideration. She liked my work and expressed a desire that I write some more. Sheila and I got married in Haworth on my 70th birthday of November 10th, 2012.

I had always wanted to try my hand at writing short stories; particularly stories from the land of my birth, Ireland. This thought eventually became extended to the place of my birth, Portlaw.

Portlaw is famous for perhaps having been a 'model village' long before similar village concepts like Saltaire in West Yorkshire or Rowntrees in York were established. Although its fortune as a village of importance has waned over the years and, particularly since the closure of its last major business, the Tannery, it nevertheless remains a potent force in the minds of all of us who were born there.

Although I was brought to England from Portlaw before my 4th year, and have lived in England ever since, my heart has always remained in Portlaw; the village of my birth. As the eldest of seven children who was born to an Irish woman with the most imaginative of minds, I was brought up on my mother's stories. Although a woman of small stature in her earlier days of marriage, stories didn't come any taller or in more incredible form than those of my mother's. Often, they would stretch the bounds of possibility beyond the realms of credulity, and yet, she always made me believe them; or perhaps it is more appropriate to say, 'want to believe them'.

So when Sheila persuaded me to return to writing, I decided to recount some of the stories my mother told me long ago. Being a person with my own imagination, I have taken the germ of her tale and elaborated it with the aid of 70 years of wisdom and a splash of literary licence to produce the final result.

I have researched all the background that provides the setting for these 'Tales from Portlaw', thereby enabling me to blend fact with fiction in the most acceptable of ways. I include long-established Portlaw family names in my stories, but with the sole exception of the landlady, Molly Rocket from the Cotton Mill Pub in Portlaw, any resemblance to anyone who ever lived or came from Portlaw in either name, likeness or character description is purely co-incidental. I hope that you enjoy.

‘The Last Dance’ is an Irish love story of a widow and a widower whose love for each other develops through their mutual love of Latin American dance, but at a great cost. It tells of the high price they are prepared to pay to win the ‘All Ireland Ballroom Dance Final’ in their ‘last dance’.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Forde
• Release date: Jan 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301241453

William Forde

William Forde was born in Ireland and currently lives in Haworth, West Yorkshire with his wife Sheila. He is the father of five children and the author of over 60 published books and two musical plays. Approximately 20 of his books are suitable for the 7-11 year old readers while the remainder are suitable for young persons and adults. Since 2010, all of his new stories have been written for adults under his 'Tales from Portlaw' series of short stories. His website is www.fordefables.co.uk on which all his miscellaneous writings may be freely read. There are also a number of children's audio stories which can be freely heard.He is unique in the field of contemporary children's authors through the challenging emotional issues and story themes he addresses, preferring to focus upon those emotions that children and adults find most difficult to appropriately express.One of West Yorkshire's most popular children's authors, Between 1990 and 2002 his books were publicly read in over 2,000 Yorkshire school assemblies by over 800 famous names and celebrities from the realms of Royalty, Film, Stage, Screen, Politics, Church, Sport, etc. The late Princess Diana used to read his earlier books to her then young children, William and Harry and Nelson Mandela once telephoned him to praise an African story book he had written. Others who have supported his works have included three Princesses, three Prime Ministers, two Presidents and numerous Bishops of the realm. A former Chief Inspector of Schools for OFSTED described his writing to the press as 'High quality literature.' He has also written books which are suitable for adults along with a number of crossover books that are suitable for teenagers and adults.Forever at the forefront of change, at the age of 18 years, William became the youngest Youth Leader and Trade Union Shop Steward in Great Britain. In 1971, He founded Anger Management in Great Britain and freely gave his courses to the world. Within the next two years, Anger Management courses had mushroomed across the English-speaking world. During the mid-70's, he introduced Relaxation Training into H.M. Prisons and between 1970 and 1995, he worked in West Yorkshire as a Probation Officer specialising in Relaxation Training, Anger Management, Stress Management and Assertive Training Group Work.He retired early on the grounds of ill health in 1995 to further his writing career, which witnessed him working with the Minister of Youth and Culture in Jamaica to establish a trans-Atlantic pen-pal project between 32 primary schools in Falmouth, Jamaica and 32 primary schools in Yorkshire.William was awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours List of 1995 for his services to West Yorkshire. He has never sought to materially profit from the publication of his books and writings and has allowed all profit from their sales (approx £200,000) to be given to charity. Since 2013, he was diagnosed with CLL; a terminal condition for which he is currently receiving treatment.In 2014, William had his very first 'strictly for adult' reader's novel puiblished called‘Rebecca’s Revenge'. This book was first written over twenty years ago and spans the period between the 1950s and the New Millennium. He initially refrained from having it published because of his ‘children’s author credentials and charity work’. He felt that it would have conflicted too adversely with the image which had taken a decade or more to establish with his audience and young person readership. Now, however as he approaches the final years of his life and cares less about his public image, besides no longer writing for children (only short stories for adults since 2010), he feels the time to be appropriate to publish this ‘strictly for adults only’ novel alongside the remainder of his work.In December 2016 he was diagnosed with skin cancer on his face and two weeks later he was diagnosed with High-grade Lymphoma (Richter’s Transformation from CLL). He was successfully treated during the first half of 2017 and is presently enjoying good health albeit with no effective immune system.

Book preview

'The Last Dance'

'Tales from Portlaw'

Volume 9

'The Last Dance'

by

William Forde

Copyright © 2015 William Forde

Published 2015 by William Forde

Revised July 2016

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Table of Contents

Author’s Introduction

Author’s Foreword

Chapter One: ‘Nancy Swales becomes the Widow Swales’

Chapter Two: ‘The Secret Night Life of Widow Swales’

Chapter Three: ‘Meeting Richard Again’

Chapter Four: ‘Clancy’s Ballroom: March 1961’

Chapter Five: ‘The All Ireland Dancing Rounds’

Chapter Six: ‘James Mountford’

Chapter Seven: ‘The All Ireland Ballroom Latin American Dance Final’

Chapter Eight: ‘Dancing Into the Future’

Author’s Background

Other Books by this Author

For the General Audience

Romantic Drama Strictly for Adults

Connect with William Forde

Author's Introduction

'The Last Dance' tells the story of how the passion of dancing can become fused with the love passion of one's life. Who of us know when time is called on the last dance of life?

William Forde

March 2015

Author's Foreword

I grew up on my mother’s stories. Although an Irish woman of small stature and imaginative mind, stories didn’t come any ‘taller’ than those tales told by my mother. They would stretch the bounds of one’s credulity beyond the realms of possibility, and yet, she always made me ‘want to believe them’.

I was born in Portlaw and when my time comes to lie at the other side of the green sod, it is my wish that one third my ashes shall be placed upon my grandparents' grave, William and Mary Fanning, along with my uncles, Willie Fanning and Johnnie Fanning who are also buried there. One third will be placed on my parent's grave, Paddy and Maureen Forde and the remainder of my ashes placed at a spot on the Haworth Moor, which holds significance for me and my wife Sheila.

Although small in size and population, Portlaw is famous for having been a ‘model village’ long before similar village concepts like Saltaire in West Yorkshire or Rowntrees in York were established. Although its fortune as a village of importance has waned over the years, and particularly since the closure of its last major business, the Tannery, it nevertheless remains a potent force in the minds of all of us who were born there.

I'd had dozens of books published between 1990 and 2005, at which time I had initially decided to hang up my pen. My wife Sheila however persuaded me to resume my writing of stories. I had always wanted to write short stories, so after having been persuaded to return to writing, I decided to recount some of the stories told to me by my mother long ago. Being a person with my own imagination, I have taken the germ of her tales and elaborated them with the aid of 70 years of wisdom and a splash of literary licence to come up with the final result.

'The Last Dance' is a story that revolves around the love of ballroom dancing by widower Nancy Swales and the new dancing partner in her life, married man Richard. Both dearly have one aim, to win the 'All Ireland Ballroom Dancing Championship'. Nancy and Richard pursue their dream; even at the risk of Richard becoming paralysed for life. Through their joint love of dancing, both Nancy and Richard find love once more. However, their Championship Final leads to their ‘Last Dance’.

William Forde

March 2015

Chapter One: ‘Nancy Swales becomes the Widow Swales’

Nancy Swales (Nee Southers), was 58 years of age although she didn’t look a day over 40. For the past four years Nancy had been a widow and because she always insisted upon being addressed as ‘Widow Swales,’ most of the Portlaw residents believed that she was still pining for her dearly departed husband while some thought that she rather enjoyed the status of widowhood.

Indeed, she wore black on the day of her husband’s funeral along with a black veil and it was this very same attire of mourning outfit that she’d worn every day since. The villagers perceived her as being in a constant state of bereavement for her dearly departed husband Sam.

Whenever she wasn't out, Nancy would slip off her shoes and replace them with her dancing shoes. Indeed, the only shoes that she ever felt comfortable in were her dancing shoes!

Widow Swales lived at 14, William Street, Portlaw in the county of Waterford. She had been born the only child to a farmer and his wife from Limerick. Her parents had always hoped that their little girl would join the holy sisterhood when she grew up and they tended to dress her in