67 awards in a year for this dancing duo as we celebrate 1970s achievements

Seventeen major awards and 50 plaques - and that was inside one year for the 1970s teenage dancing partnership of 16-year-old Brenda Wile, from Houghton, and David Turnock, from Gosforth.

Dancing since she was four years old

Brenda started dancing at four. She attended a number of dancing schools and danced with several partners, gaining awards.

She met David at the Jack Rigby school in North Shields and since then they reaped a bumper crop of trophies and shields.

Brenda and David visited three separate dancing schools each week, one in North Shields for Old Time dancing, one in Billingham for Latin American and modern and a third in Newcastle for stage dancing.

Also in the 1977 news

Brenda said ballroom could be tough but she thoroughly enjoyed it.

The couple made headlines in 1977 but they were not alone in making the news that year, and not the only ones doing well on the dancing scene.

Disco lovers were in for a treat with the launch of a new weekly session in South Shields.

Christine James (21) and Alison Murphy (22) were the people behind it and they began the regular events at Temple Park leisure centre pool. Tell us if you went along.

Showtime for the Silksworth pensioners

The Silksworth Pensioners’ Concert Party claims an average age of 74, but they were still planning to go on tour with their show.

It featured good old fashioned songs as a speciality and the Sunderland group was busy rehearsing a set of Irish numbers to perform.

Three hundred teams - from shops to schools - entered the Swim 77 event which was to be staged at the Washington Town Centre baths in April 1977.

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