Thirty Years of Left, Right, Cha-Cha: The Little Disco in Pyle That Refuses to Quit

There's a moment at every Pyle children's disco that regulars will know by heart. The lights dim, the mirror ball starts its lazy spin, and someone — it's always someone's dad, and it's always offbeat — yells 'Hands up, cha-cha!' before the first note of the Cha Cha Slide has even loaded.

It's been that way, give or take a few lightbulbs, since 1994.

One Man and His Record Box

The disco owes its astonishing run to Dave Prentice, who wheeled his first borrowed speaker into the village hall on a drizzly February Saturday over three decades ago. Back then it was cassettes. Then came the CD wallet — a fat, zippered beast that lived under the trestle table. These days it's a tablet no bigger than a coaster, but Dave will tell you the important things haven't changed.

"The hokey cokey still goes on at half-time," he says, cueing it up with the ease of a man who could do this in his sleep. "You can't do it in the middle. Half-time. That's the law."

The 'law' also extends to the cha-cha slide (non-negotiable), the superman dance (mandatory for under-eights) and a strictly enforced ban on anything Dave describes as "shouty computer noise". Parents have tried. Dave has a face for those requests.

From Bouncy Castle to Bouncy Castle

What makes the disco special isn't the playlist — it's the people standing on it. We counted at least four parents on the dance floor this month who, according to their own admission, first shuffled here as children in the nineties.

"I came in Year 2," laughs Kelly, chasing her daughter round the fruit-juice table. "Same hall, same hokey cokey. I remember thinking Dave was ancient. He's still going and I'm the ancient one now."

Her friend Sian nods. "It's the only thing that's stayed the same since I was little. Everything else in the village has been rebuilt, repainted or rebranded. This hasn't."

That continuity is quietly remarkable. Fads have come and gone — fidget spinners, loom bands, a brief and divisive dabbing era around 2016 — but the disco's formula has survived them all by simply ignoring them. The bubbles machine arrived in 2009 and stayed. The foam party of 2012 was never repeated, and nobody mourns it.

The Half-Time Ritual

Ask anyone what they come for and the answer is always the same: half-time. At roughly 3.15pm, the music stops, the hokey cokey starts, and for three glorious minutes the floor is a sea of arms, legs, knees bent and arms stretched out, with grandparents filming from the sidelines and toddlers inventing entirely new moves.

It is, in fairness, the politest dance floor in the county. When two little ones collide during the 'ooh, the hokey cokey' bit, the apology comes from both sides before the chorus has finished.

Same Time Next Month

The disco runs on the third Saturday of the month at the village hall — check the Events Calendar for exact dates, as it pauses in August when the field takes over. Entry remains £2 on the door, squash and biscuits included, and the raffle at the end usually features a bottle of something Dave won himself at last year's fête.

Thirty years is a long time for anything, let alone a village disco. But as the last song wound down this Saturday and the folding chairs came out, one small boy tugged Dave's sleeve and asked, very seriously, whether he'd be doing it when he was a dad.

Dave just smiled and started packing the leads.

"Ask me next month."