From The Cockpit To The Foxtrot – Colin Putnam’s Extraordinary Life

Many people enjoy a successful career then retire to live a relaxed life but for Colin Putnam, retirement brought an opportunity to flourish during a second career that was active, competitive, hugely rewarding, and clocked many miles across the UK and abroad.

The Early Years

Colin was born in 1935 and is proud to be descended from a long line of bodgers – skilled craftsmen who lived and worked in the beech woods, mainly around the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire, and turned wood from felled trees into legs and spindles for chairs.

His father worked as a French polisher but his grandfather was a mechanical engineer, and Colin’s first career followed a similar path, which coincided with joining the RAF for his National Service aged 17 and a half.

A Career in Electrical Engineering Takes Off

After attending air wireless training school in Yatesbury in Wiltshire, Colin felt fortunate to be posted to nearby Boscombe Down to work for the Ministry of Defence who were building and testing experimental military aircraft. “They were the latest and greatest aircraft which would eventually come into service”, Colin recalls. “It was very interesting – I worked on the Vulcan, the first one that ever went into the RAF, which was a bit tricky as I hadn’t got any information on it but I was told to go and do a service on it. So I went into the cockpit, made a list of where all the equipment was then checked that it was all ok”!

Conscription lasted for 2 years but Colin stayed with the RAF for a further three years so he could have a meaningful career as an Air Wireless Fitter. He didn’t fly – his role was to maintain the planes – but what he learned helped him build a successful career afterwards.

Colin studied for a Higher National Certificate in Electrical Engineering and once qualified, became a Chartered Member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers. He then put his combined skills and experience to good use in various industries, including an interesting role leading a team of 10 to design the electronics behind flight simulators for a company called Redifon in Crawley.

Ballroom Beats Golf Hands Down

Colin had met his wife, Margaret, as soon as he left the RAF, and they married 11 months later, settling down in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. Their happy marriage revolved around raising their three children but once they reached their 50s, Colin and Margaret began to wonder what they’d do with their time. Colin explained, “We wanted to do something together. I didn’t want to go off and play golf on my own. Having said that, we tried golf. I got both of us an hour-long free lesson and my wife didn’t hit the ball once! Then we discovered that we both liked ballroom dancing”.

Colin and Margaret had been on on holiday and found out that ballroom dancing was still going strong, so they came home and signed up for lessons at a nearby dance school. The couple joined classes initially, then took private lessons as they progressed. Both Colin and Margaret were naturals - even though Margaret had assumed she’d be the good dancer! - and their teacher put them forward for every medal going. Then Margaret suggested that they started dancing competitively, so they joined the ‘Sunday Circuit’ where teachers, including their own, ran regular competitions. It was intense but great fun. “You had your breakfast, started dancing and you were still dancing until you finished at about 1 in the morning” remembers Colin.

Front and Centre for Eastenders

The couple often built holidays around competing and on one such occasion, they were on their way back from a week in Torquay when they received a phone call from their teacher. “Can you get yourselves down to Hayling Island?”, she asked. It turned out that she sometimes helped find extras for film and television, and the BBC needed some dancers for two episodes of Eastenders they were filming at a holiday camp.

The storyline featured some of the Eastenders’ cast on holiday and included ballroom dancing scenes. Colin and Margaret arrived on set, ready to blend into the background. “The thing was”, Colin explained, “there were professional extras and us as amateur extras – then the choreographer suddenly realised the professional extras didn’t know what they were doing but the amateur extras did. The professional extras were learning the dance steps from a book!” Colin and Margaret were duly moved forward, and when the director realised Margaret’s dress looked great on camera, they ended up right at the front, full screen. The couple filmed two EastEnders episodes over three days – “full blast all day” – recalls Colin. “I don’t know what the holiday camp was like”, he laughed, “We didn’t see much of it!”

At around the same time, Colin had been volunteered by his daughter to listen to children read at school. He went in just after one of the Eastenders episodes had been aired and the children said, “We saw you on telly”, so Colin ended up signing autographs for a group of 8 year olds. He and Margaret also danced in a Guinness advert so clearly had the presence for TV as well as the technique to succeed in in the competitive world.

Cruising, Dancing, Competing and Teaching

Ballroom dancing became a true passion for Colin and Margaret and dancing holidays often involved meeting all the same people – judges, musicians, and their fellow dancers, described by Colin as “off-floor friends, on-floor enemies”! They were proud to dance in Blackpool – a mecca for ballroom dancers – appearing at both the Tower Ballroom and the Winter Gardens. The couple also went on competition cruises, and Colin particularly remembers a cruise to the Caribbean on the Queen Mary 2, which had a wonderful, enclosed ballroom.

During their retirement, Colin and Margaret enjoyed around 30 cruises all over the world, and part of the attraction was being able to dance in the evenings - even when not competing - especially on Cunard ships which had proper ballrooms.

As well as competing, Colin and Margaret started teaching in Southwater, near Horsham. They began running dances and belonged to the UK Alliance of Teachers of Dance, the professional association based in Blackpool. “It took up our retirement”, recalled Colin – and a photograph of the couple on the dance floor in their 70s, elegant and perfectly positioned, indicates how seriously they took it, and how talented they were.

Life at Broadbridge Park

Colin moved into Broadbridge Park a year ago, his beloved Margaret having died a few years earlier. He discovered a small community of ex-ballroom dancers also living in the care home, some of whom he knew of when he was competing, but he keeps active through group physio sessions, and choreographed ‘armchair’ dancing, arranged by the home’s Wellbeing Lead, Donna. Colin came to Broadbridge Park so he could enjoy companionship and is enthusiastic about participating in what he jokingly describes as “Donna’s hairbrained schemes” – he once ended up making about 80 pom poms for a special Christmas wreath! He enjoys watching ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ on TV – he and Margaret were in the studio audience for an episode in the first series – although he describes it as “more showmanship than dancing”.

Colin’s family - a daughter and two sons, 6 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren - visit regularly. At 91 years old, Colin is dapper, engaging and articulate, keen to interact and get involved in as much as he can at Broadbridge Park – which is why when Donna suggested planning an event around ballroom dancing, Colin was happy to get involved.

Tango in the Sunshine: an Afternoon of Dance

On a beautiful July afternoon, dancers Emma and Raresh arrived at the care home looking fabulous in their bright costumes. The bistro provided the perfect performance space and residents eagerly gathered, before Colin stood up to introduce the couple. Emma and Raresh glided and twirled their way through a number of ballroom classics, then invited residents to join them. Colin was delighted to partner Emma in a tango and although he mentioned that the foxtrot and the rhumba had been his favourites, he took to the floor with confidence.

Our dancers changed into Latin attire and proceeded to impress with a second dance sequence, with Colin once again rising to the challenge with some nifty footwork, despite wearing what he described as the ‘wrong shoes’! Residents and staff absolutely loved the performances and many enthusiastically joined in, either dancing with Emma and Raresh or with one another. It was an afternoon of wonderful entertainment and participation with everyone getting involved in the arm movements for the ‘Macarena’. Well-earned refreshments were served afterwards, including delicious cakes and fresh fruit, and Emma and Raresh said their goodbyes, having brought the joy of dance to Broadbridge Park on a perfect sunny day.

Colin thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and said he’d love to dance again. Reflecting on his second ‘career’ and the passion for dancing that he and his wife discovered when both in their 50s, he said simply, “I had an interesting life - and the perfect partner.”