A highly principled and
kind man, held in high esteem by all who knew him for
his fair minded, measured views, Ron Ferguson worked
to get dance recognised and respected by people outside
dancing circles. Jo, his wife described how he “would
have loved the fact that dancers are now known by
the general public due to ‘Strictly Come Dancing!” and
describes her husband below.
“When I was asked to write a profile on my late
husband, Ron Ferguson, I felt honoured to do so!
I did not meet Ron until after his days in the RAF,
where he had been disappointed to find upon qualifying
as a navigator, that there were no vacancies – although
being offered training leading to a job as a pilot.
Ron turned them down, much to the Chief Officer’s
surprise and disgust!
I met Ron at a local dance school, run by Eustace
Bowman. Ron already had taken his silver medal, so
when our teacher put us together I had to take Bronze
and Silver on the same day, in order to catch him up!
At one of our classes ‘Bowman’, as his
pupils called him, sold us all tickets to go to a local
competition. Ron had never been to one before, so did
not know what it was all about – we thought we
were going to watch the dancing. But the next thing
that happened was a number was pinned to Ron’s
back and we were pushed out on the floor to dance Waltz
and a Quickstep. Surprisingly we got a recall! Ron
refused to go and dance again, saying “If
the judges can’t do the job properly the first
time, I’m not dancing again!” I had to
explain what a recall was. But that was it, after that
he caught the dance bug!
We went on to dance in many competitions. We spent
every weekend in London, practicing at the Hammersmith
Palais and when we were not dancing, we studied with
the great names of the day. We would then go on to
a competition. We were lucky, in that my grandmother
lived in Lewisham, my home town, so we used to stay
with her. In those days we had plenty of events to
choose from, since every seaside town had its Dance
Festival. We won many trophies and awards!
We had to give up competing to save and buy our first
home. When we moved into our new bungalow, someone
from the area came in and asked if we would run a local
dance each week at the new village hall. Next thing
we knew, Eustace Bowman rang us up to suggest that
we take our professional qualifications!
A few years later, I found our studio – an empty
shell of a building. With the help of my father, brother
and pupils we got it going.
Ron was still working at the factory at the time,
but the pressure that they were putting on him was
becoming too much. So I suggested that he come and
join me full-time. Ron was an excellent teacher and
our school developed into one of the largest schools
in the area. Nearly every weekend, we would take whole
coachloads of pupils to the Hammersmith Palais, Crystal
Palace and many more events.
It was at about this time that Ron was invited to
join the Ballroom Teacher’s Committee. It was
suggested that he join the Latin Faculty Branch. He
also became Chairman of the Awards’ Committee
and spent many hours and days negotiating awards for
medallists on behalf of the Committee!”
Jo Ferguson
I remember Ron as a caring fellow committee member,
excellent teacher, first class compere and a great
human being. Many of you will have known him in one
or more of these roles.
An aspect of Ron not so well known, that Jo has given
me permission to share with you, is his love of horse
riding. Ron and Jo had some great holidays on a Californian
ranch. The picture of Ron I best like to remember is
the enthusiasm with which he recalled these holidays.
The sparkle in Ron’s eyes was just a little brighter
than usual.
Janet Clark |
