I first got involved with square dancing in 1978 during a business assignment in Webster, New York, U.S.A. In that year the Web Spinners Square Dance Club [sadly no more] participated in the 4th July parade through the village and were seen by my wife and I. We decided to look for a student class and were rewarded when I saw a "Shop Window Flyer" at the beginning of September. We duly signed up for the '78 / '79 class at Web Spinners and graduated in May 1979.

When we left the United States later that year we were honoured with honorary life membership of the club and were presented with a plaque at a farewell dance in our honour.

When we returned to the U.K. we continued to dance with various clubs and in 1982 decided to form a club in our home village. I had been calling "guest" tips at our previous club (under the guidance of the club caller) and I became the first and only Club Caller of the Wheelers and Dealers Square Dance Club of Stoke Mandeville, Bucks.

Since then I have become a regular caller on the "Saturday Night Dance Circuit" in England and have called for clubs all over the country. During business trips and vacations I have "guest" called in the USA (New York, Virginia, Texas, California, Illinois and Florida), in Germany, Holland, Sweden, Finland and Norway. I have also been the 'featured caller' at square dance weekends in England [including several National Conventions], Scotland, the Isle of Wight, Sweden, France, Holland and Switzerland.

A major event for me was the 2006 European Square Dance Convention where I called along with 13 other callers and 5 round dance cuers from the U.K. and Europe. What a wonderful experience - well over 1000 dancers enjoying the greatest activity ever. Congratulations to the organisers and helpers who all contributed to making it a fabulous week-end.

I have been a member of the Square Dance Callers Club of Great Britain for over 20 years. I served on their Council for a number of years including a 3 year term as their President and I have been an accredited caller for several years. I was also the first Square Dance Caller to have had an entry in the Guinness book of World Records. I achieved this distinction as a result of continuously calling at two charity square dances - for 24 hours in 1984 and then for 26 hours in 1988. I held this record until 1995 when Joey Duhamel of Baskin, Louisiana, USA successfully completed a continuous calling record of 30 HOURS 1 MINUTE. This record has never (to my knowledge) appeared in the UK editions of the Guinness Book of World Records, apparently a record such as this doesn't justify a "world-wide" entry. Anyway - - - - "CONGRATULATIONS JOEY".

2002 saw a temporary change in my calling career. After over 19 years I resigned as the 'weekly' club caller for Wheelers & Dealers Square Dance Club. However, contrary to rumour, I did not retire as a caller. I was still calling as part of the rota for club nights at Chain 8's and continued to call at several of the Wheelers & Dealers Square Dance Club's activities. The decision to stop regular club night calling was made simply to allow me to "get back my Tuesday nights!" and to recharge my 'club night batteries'.

This period is now over and in October 2005 I returned to weekly calling for Wheelers & Dealers. I started a brand new student class with my wife and a handful of 'angels' and we successfully graduated 11 new dancers in October 2006. Since then we have started another new class with nearly a square of students.

Another recent involvement was the start of a series of "crash courses". In April '07 my wife and I ran a "crash course for beginners" in conjunction with Wheelers and Dealers - as a result we welcomed 8 more dancers into the activity who learned from zero to move 40 in 2 DAYS!!! All 8 of them are now dancing weekly and thoroughly enjoying theirselves. We attempted to repeat this exercise in November '07 without success but are optimistic for our next attempt in April '08. We also ran a "crash course mainstream refresher course" in June. This was a full (7 hour) day during which I am took 3 squares of our graduated dancers and refreshed the complete mainstream program.

Full details of these and other club events are given on the Wheelers & Dealers web page.

Occasionally I organise coach trips to square dance "specials", usually in Europe. The most recent trip was to the Paris Calling annual special that is held in Avallon, 200km south of Paris. 32 of us had a great 6 day trip which took in 3 nights in Paris as well as the dance special. Watch your club notice boards for future trips!

I AM A FIRM BELIEVER IN THE TRADITIONS OF FUN AND FRIENDSHIP WITHIN THE SQUARE DANCE ACTIVITY AND ENDEAVOUR TO MAINTAIN THESE TRADITIONS WHENEVER AND WHEREVER I CALL.

I CALL UP TO AND INCLUDING THE CALLERLAB PLUS PROGRAMME AND I AM AVAILABLE TO CALL ANYWHERE IN THE SQUARE DANCE WORLD.

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In 2006, at the request of several dancers I took the plunge and produced a CD of singing calls. The CD is called
"S(t)ING ALONG WITH ALAN" and features 10 songs previously issued on the Sting record label (Sting Records have kindly allowed me to use their music - thanks Paul). The singing calls are all using the Callerlab Mainstream program. Please call me if you would like to have a copy or see me at any of my dances (see my Itinerary).
Since then I have been approached by dancers in France with a request to produce another CD featuring the Basic program and it is my intention to do just that later this year - watch this space!!!

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Modern American Square Dance Caller and Instructor

Welcome to my RESUMÉ.

I AM A FIRM BELIEVER IN THE TRADITIONS OF FUN AND FRIENDSHIP WITHIN THE SQUARE DANCE ACTIVITY AND ENDEAVOUR TO MAINTAIN THESE TRADITIONS WHENEVER AND WHEREVER I CALL.

I CALL UP TO AND INCLUDING THE CALLERLAB PLUS PROGRAMME AND I AM AVAILABLE TO CALL ANYWHERE IN THE SQUARE DANCE WORLD.