Dancing the night away for St John
Page 21
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TONIGHT'S sponsored dances, for which National Carriers has been delivering publicity material to halls all over the country, will bear no resemblance to the dance marathons that were a feature of America at the time of the great depression.
David Niven writes in The Moon's a Balloon of the degradation of "those poor creatures, shuffling around 24 hours a day for days on end, sleeping occasionally in each other's arms ... competing for a few hundred dollars in prize money ..."
Happily, tonight's events have not been spawned by the depression in Britain. They are to aid St John's Ambulance Brigade whose services will not, I hope, be needed by the dancers.
National Carriers is also helping to brighten the lives of handicapped children by giving surplus Dodge KC40 vans to the Variety Club of Great Britain for conversion into Sunshine minicoaches. The idea was hatched by John Ratcliff (of Ratcliff Tail Lifts), a vice-president of the club, and Brian Hayward, National Carriers' managing director.
Fleetcare mechanics at National Carriers' Leicester branch are giving their skills voluntarily for the repair of a decrepit coach.