Jinks's Boatyard

From: 1920s Dance Halls in Manchester

"On several occasions in the late 1920s I went camping with three of my workmates to Hawk Green, Marple. On the Saturday night we used to go to a dance at a most unusual venue - in Jinks's boathouse in the boatyard by the side of the Peak Forest Canal. The girls were the main attraction... One night Ernie Mitchell, one of my pals who was quite a dancer, said in an attempt to impress the lads, "Just point out the nicest girl, or best dancer in the room, and I'll show you how it's done." I suppose he meant how to get in the company of a girl. So we accepted the challenge and singled out a real peach. Ernie then walked swiftly across the floor in the direction of the peach, but the poor lad didn't expect what happened next. The girl must have seen him coming and didn't fancy poor old Ernie, so she hopped it rapidly in the direction of the toilets, leaving a bewildered Ernie stranded in the middle of the dance floor. He sheepishly returned to our jeers - "She didn't fancy you, Ernie!" It was weeks before Ernie lived it down, yet it was the kind of thing that could happen in any dance hall, especially at public dances."

Source

Pritchard

"Dance Band Days around Manchester" Pritchard, Frank (1988) Publisher: Neil Richardson, Manchester; ISBN 1-85216-023-3.

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