SEQUENCE dancer Ray Parkman celebrated his 80th birthday at the weekend with a special dance evening at Bishopswood Village Hall.

"We get a great deal of pleasure out of our dancing," said his wife Doreen.

She and Ray run a busy programme of sequence dance evenings throughout the Forest – alternate Mondays the the Heywood Centre, Tuesday evenings at the British Legion in Lydney, and Thursdays and Fridays at Berry Hill and Littledean.

The pair, who live in Lower Lydbrook, also run sessions at Bishopswood and Walford every month.

"We started about 10 years ago and one by one we've taken over the running of the clubs, plus a couple we started ourselves," said Doreen.

"We just do it for the love of it – there's very little financial reward! It keeps us both fit, too, and it keeps your brain ticking over. There are always new dances to learn."

Ray said his party went with a swing.

"We had a good time," he said. "There was a very good turnout."