| Gang warfare at Hutton Rudby
Then in 1966 - One of Cleveland’s most popular weekend events -the saturday night dance at Hutton Rudby - has been banned by the local village hall committee.
Announcing the decision chairman Harry Stevens said there would be no Press statement regarding the matter
Secretary Harry Tarren was equally taciturn “I have nothing to say on the matter” he replied to Press enquires.
But local residents spoke of violence and bloodshed that gangs had brought to the dance. They referred to an incident in which one of the doormen Alan Atkinson was taken to hospital with a fractured cheek bone. He was detained for almost a week and is still off work.
“It’s a great relief to see the dance closed down” said one anxious resident. “Sooner or later there was going to be a blood bath here. It was only a matter of time before the knives came out. Everything was fine until the groups took over. Then the trouble makers moved in .They came from outlying villages hell-bent on ruining things for the many good kids who came to enjoy the dance”
Another resident who declined to be named because she didn’t want to attract repercussions, said a number of pubs in the village had banned certain gangs from their premises, but this hadn’t deterred them from turning up.
At one time up to 400 youngsters used to turn up for the dance which has been held in the village continuously for the past 20 years.
Recently the police restricted the numbers to 300 and the village hall committee refused admission after 10-30 pm.
One elderly lady who had lived in Hutton Rudby most of her life recalled the days when Bert Waller held his dances in the hall and insisted that dancers wore dancing shoes and gloves. “But those days are gone forever, these noisy groups saw to that.”
A police spokesman said a man would appear at Stokesley charged with assault and causing actual bodily harm and a breach of the peace in connection with an incident at Hutton Rudby dance.
This article originally appeared in the Easter 2001 issue of Now
& Then Magazine
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