THESE young dancers delighted audiences at Rose Hill more than 50 years ago.

Pupils who joined the Jackie Bebbington School of Dancing in later years enjoyed the luxury of a new community centre on the estate.

But the children in this picture, taken in the mid-1950s, were not so lucky.

Jackie, now Jackie Melson, of Westbury Crescent, Oxford, writes: “Classes were held in the old wooden Rose Hill community centre in Ashurst Way – before someone did us all a favour and burned it down.

“My Thursday classes were held in the hall, but on Fridays, we had to use an adjoining Nissen hut with a concrete floor. The dust raised by our tap shoes was so thick sometimes that you could hardly see from one end of the hut to the other. It’s a wonder our lungs didn’t solidify!

“There was no piano in the hut, so I had to cycle from my house holding a wind-up gramophone in one hand and giving signals for turning with my feet. Happy days!

“One evening, I left the hall to find someone had nicked my front wheel.

“Who the villain was we never found out, but we had our suspicions.

“Soon after that, we moved into the wonderful new community centre at The Oval and never looked back.”

Jackie Bebbington taught dancing at Rose Hill for more than 50 years until her retirement in 2003.

Thanks to her, generations of children had their first opportunity to appear on stage.

Productions by her dancers were some of the most eagerly awaited events at Rose Hill and attracted enthusiastic audiences. The annual pantomime was particularly popular.

Dancing classes were held at Singletree, the former home of Frank Pakenham, later Lord Longford, and now a sheltered housing complex for the elderly. When the first community centre was built, they were switched there.

Over the years, the children raised thousands of pounds for charity and other worthy causes, including Rose Hill Primary School.

The 50th anniversary of Miss Bebbington’s first production was marked in 2000 with a surprise presentation from the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.

During a visit to Oxford, he called at Rose Hill community centre and presented her with a coffee set for her service to the community.

Now, as the Oxford Mail has reported, work on a new £4m community centre at Rose Hill is nearing completion.