A TEACHER connected with dance in Bury for more than half-a-century has returned from judging a national competition.

For the past week Miss Pat Lupino Thompson, has been at Butlins in Skegness where the British Stage Dance Council Championships have been taking place.

Miss Lupino-Thompson, who lives in Greenhill Road, Bury and who is a qualified major examiner, said dancers travelled from across the country to take part and the wealth of talent was overwhelming.

Miss Lupino-Thompson (68) set up her dancing school, Lupino's at the age of 15. The school closed down in 1988, but she continued teaching and joined the tutor group at the Seedfield Centre named Freelance to teach the borough's youngsters. Freelance is a now dance studio run by her former pupils .

Miss Lupino-Thompson laughed: "I tried to close down Lupino's Dance School in 1973 but it stayed open until 1988. It was then I gave up full time teaching and I am not connected to any school this present time."