TAKE your partners this week, Looking Back is stepping out on to the dance floor.

Our first photo, we reckon, dates from the early 1950s and it is very likely a formation team from the Billy Helm school of dance.

The young men and women often put on shows and demonstrations, while also taking part in festivals and fetes.

Billy used to run his dance school at the bottom of Preston New Road, Blackburn and later had a flower shop.

Our second photograph shows reader Sheila Berry and her best friend Kathleen Newton, as they were known then, all dressed up for their first-ever dance. The year was 1954 and the girls were both 14.

The venue was King George’s Hall and both girls thought they were so glamorous in their taffeta gowns.

Sheila had adapted the yellow bridesmaid’s dress and bolero she had worn for her sister Lilian’s wedding the previous year into her ball gown, while her friend wore pink.

Said Sheila: “I remember feeling so grown up to be dancing at King George’s — I’m sure there are lots of people who remember dancing there.”

She also wonders if anyone has a photograph dating back to 1953, coronation year, at Blackpool — she remembers enjoying a holiday there that year, despite her young age, with her friend.