Rockin’ back the clock

Rock and roll: Wonthaggi Fire Brigade first lieutenant Jamie Moresco swapped his usual yellow for a 1950s outfit on Saturday at the brigade’s rock’n’roll dance. He showed off his dance moves in the street with wife, Nicole.

THERE was nothing unusual about the rock’n’roll dance held at the Wonthaggi Town Hall last Saturday night – except for the decade.

Around 140 guests were transported back into the 1950s for the Wonthaggi Fire Brigade’s big event, with plenty of people getting into character for the dance.

Women arrived donning poodle skirts with petticoats and saddle shoes, while leather jackets and Brylcreem were aplenty among the men.

Vintage hot rods dropping off guests at the town hall could have easily had you fooled you had fallen back into a different era.

Billy O’Neill and the Headliners completed the night perfectly, belting out all the greatest hits from the ‘50s and ‘60s, and getting the dance floor twisting and jiving.

Brigade captain Kim O’Connor said the night was a huge success raising around $6000 for the CFA, and added he had already received a number of messages commenting on how great a night it was.

“Everyone had a ball,” he said.

“People were dressed for the occasion and really put a big effort into it with the hairstyles and the clothing.

“A few other people brought cars along and the band was great too; the dance floor was just packed.”

Some of the guests commented they had attended the original dances at the town hall and were thrilled to be back again reliving the old days.

Gwen McColl from Williamstown returned to her hometown of Wonthaggi for the dance, and said she had actually met her husband in the town hall when he performed at one of the dances with his band back in the day.

Kim said the event would continue to grow bigger and better every year after the inaugural dance, and hoped to incorporate a car show.

“We’d like to get some more cars along next year and hold a bit of a cruise during the day, a car show in the main street and the dance at night time – turn it into a full day event,” he said.

“We want to build it into something people want to come to every year. Everyone was rapt that it went so well for the first time. I don’t think there’s anything we could have done better.”

Kim said there were plenty of prizes for best dressed and best dancers, and said he even received dance lessons on the night.

“I got up and busted out a tune with the band as well,” he laughed, with a few photos of his performance of Mustang Sally already floating around Twitter.

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Posted by Simone Short on Nov 20 2012. Filed under Community, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry