Fond memories of those dancing days in Hamilton

Jan 31 2008 By Don Boyle.

The following is a poem I have written on ‘Home Towns’.

It is in a context which people who were young in the late 40s and early 50s might relate to: a time of gradually easing austerity in a world striving to recover from the devastation of war.

So many things were still scarce and clothes and sweets were still rationed.

None of us owned a car; houses did not have phones; nor did we have TVs!

Wages were pitifully low and, as young men, we hardly had a penny in our pockets.

Yet it was an era of immense hope, where we dared to dream of better things to come.

It was also an era of films, music and dance halls. An evening spent in Lanarkshire’s premier ballroom — Hamilton Salon — was out of this world!

The boys would wear their only ‘good suit’ and a clean shirt and tie. For a few hours our otherwise mundane existence was left behind. With manners and courtesy, we could have been the equal of anyone.

The girls wore their best dresses and their glamour and finesse was positively breathtaking.

There is a piece of music from the operetta The Merry Widow which conveys exactly what we felt: “You’ll find me in Maxim’s; where all the girls are dreams; when people ask what bliss is; I simply tell them, this is!”

Dreams of Hamilton

THE years slip by but still I find
A million memories come to mind
Of all those thing we dreamed we’d do
In that youthful world that once we knew.
Unseen, I glance along each street
And hope, by chance, a friend to meet
Who knew the world so free of care

Who shared the joy of being there.
Who in their hearts still feel so young
To hear the songs that we heard sung
With echoes of laughter ringing so clear
Memories we share, growing more dear.
All those dreams once that were ours
When girls to us seemed heavenly flowers

With fragrance divine in each smiling glance
Holding us each in their mystic trance.
In every street still do I find
The joy of it all coming to mind
For each lovely dream that there used to be
In time, and with love, have all come to me.