Regency Ball A Brilliant Evening!

Guests who danced like Jane Austen at the Warwick Christmas Regency Ball in the Court House, Jury Street, Warwick, on Saturday 13th December, handed down a clear judgement: ‘A brilliant, memorable evening!’.

The grand ball revived a tradition of stylish dances in the Regency ballroom going back more than 200 years, and celebrated the reopening of the building last year after a major refurbishment aided by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

‘As guests left they all said they had enjoyed the evening enormously, and many would like the ball to become an annual occasion’, said Rick Thompson, chairman of the Unlocking Warwick volunteers who organised the event. ‘Certainly the ball was a sell-out several weeks before the date. We were sorry to disappoint some who wanted to come, but we had to limit numbers. The floor was packed with lines of dancers throughout the evening, all wearing fabulous period costumes. It was quite a sight, with the Mayor of Warwick, Moira-Ann Granger performing all the dances with great energy’.

Some guests had come from as far as Somerset, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. As they arrived, the string quartet from King’s High school played period music. Eleven dances including ‘Tythe Pig’, Black Bess’ and Lord Byron’s Maggot’, were performed under the guidance of Dance Director Liz Bartlett and her colleagues from the Jane Austen Dancers based in Bath. Drama students from King’s High and Warwick School performed a brief extract from Pride and Prejudice to introduce the second part of the evening, when all the dances were taken from TV and film versions of the famous novel.

Here are some photos of the evening (below) – a larger selection of images will be on display in the Visitor Centre very soon – if you’d like prints then please let us know. If you have any enquiries then please contact us or phone the Visitor Centre on 01926 492212.

Happy New Year!