Disco Fever (Part Two)

 

After the relatively disappointing turn out to the school disco for years 1 to 3 back in 1978. It was decided to give it one more chance the following year just before the half-term break in February.

This time only years 4 and 5 were granted a disco in the dining room which to be fair had decent acoustics for the ex-Top Rank, DJ Jason Dee, to ply his trade. Tickets for the bash were selling well with the 5^th year taking most of them.

The night was to be marshalled by the following teachers. Mr. Wilson (Geography), Miss Hardman (Biology) who were a couple if the school gossips were to be believed true. Mr. Birkett (Music) along with Miss Langer on refreshments from the music room like the year before.

As in the previous year I along with Dennis Winder made the Friday night journey in Dennis’s mum Ford escort car to the school in our best gear. I found a green chord jacket which had been given to my mum by the secretary at my old primary school some years before, at the back of my wardrobe which was filled with very few clothes but plenty of Shoot, Roy Of The Rovers magazines and a sprinkle of Preston North End programmes. 

A 7.30pm start of the disco until 9.30pm was the order on the ticket. No alcohol allowed!  As we approached the entrance to the dining room from outside the metalwork and woodwork block, they were a sizeable que along with a couple of 5^th year prefects taking the tickets on the door.

The strains of Anita Baker’s current hit Ring My Bell, could be heard and various methods of disco dancing by the throng of people on the dance floor.  It was a lot busier than the year before, but it was mainly 5^th years.

 Dennis and I found that there were not too many from the 4^th year to be seen. We ended up sat at one of the tables with fellow 4^th years  Julie Boswell, Vincent Clarke, Alison Danby, Michaël Pearson, Ray Tapper, Cheryl Thomson and Stephen Yates. The only other girls from our year that I could see were Tracey Balshaw, Dawn McCandlish, and Janet Ochman flanked by Tracey Balshaw’s  boyfriend Paul Gardner.

Mr. Wilson and Miss. Hardman in between dancing to the great music played by the DJ  kept one eye on proceedings. Miss. Hardman in her first year as a teacher looked  attractive and was liked by a lot of the pupils in the 4^th and 5^th year.

I seem to spend most my time eating and drinking my own body weight in Tudor crisps and Pepsi cola. On a trip to the toilets in the nearby corridor opposite the English classrooms, I bumped into a couple of 5^th year hard cases and had the misfortune to knock what looked like a can of Bass bitter shandy in one of their hands down one of the hard cases well laundered jeans. In his frustration he spat most of the contents of his drink his mouth with a generous amount of expletives down my green chord jacket which fortunately could not ne heard for the pounding disco rhythms of Donna Summer’s Hot stuff, so I beat a hasty retreat to dance floor with the irate 5th years in hot pursuit just in time as Dennis along with a few others got up to dance to a medley of hits from the film Grease.

When the medley of hits from Grease finished, I told Dennis the tale had what happened in the toilets. Fortunately, Mr. Wilson with Miss. Hardman had joined us at our table and Mr. Wilson was telling us about his trip to the cinema to see That’ll Be the Day the film starring David Essex, as a first year University student back in 1973. He promised to give the soundtrack album to the film to Dennis after the half term break. The two angry 5th year hard cases kept an eye on our table all night. I felt bad for Dennis because it was not his problem, but he promised to help me out.

As the disco come to an end, I wondered how I would get back to Dennis’s mums’ car without encountering the angry 5th hard cases. Miss. Langer and Mr. Birkett asked me and Dennis to help put some of the unsold refreshments into Mr. Birkett’s car on the car park. I could see silhouettes of the angry 5th years hanging around the drive area.  Dennis’s mum parked her car outside the school on Tag Lane as a rule. So, we would have to pass them to get to the car. When we finished loading Mr. Birkett’s car, as luck would have it Miss. Langer was getting a lift home from a friend who was parked outside the school just behind Dennis’s mum's car, so she walked down the drive with us passing a despairing angry 5th years who made various ominous signs to me and Dennis about our fate on returning after the half term break.

When we returned to school after the half term fortune seem to favour me and Dennis because we never bumped into the 5th years who were probably busy planning their futures outside of Tulketh High School.