FOR seven years, they have quick-stepped and foxtrotted to the good old tunes at the Sunday tea dance at Barden High School, Burnley.

It has been the weekly pleasure of up to 130 dancers, most of them pensioners. A more innocent pastime you would be hard-pressed to imagine. Yet, ludicrously, these are a law-breaking lot.

For the glide, sway and shuffle that was their enjoyment has been stopped by the council, wielding the 1780 Sunday Observance Act. The Barden bunch may listen to music on a Sunday, but should they dare to take just one step in rhythm with it, they fall foul of the law of this ancient ordinance.

There is, we hear, a way round it. They must form themselves into a club and get a licence from the justices.

But, for heaven's sake, in this day and age, what is the use of a silly old statute that tries to stop decent folk from having a bit of fun. It's time Parliament binned it.

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