MOST people could be forgiven for hanging up their dancing shoes when they hit 60.

But members of the Woodstock Social Club have no such plans.

This week the group, which meets twice a week at the club premises in Oxford Street, celebrates six years of helping forge friendships and keeping its members young.

More than 40 dancers attend the classes to quickstep and sway to country and old time dance hall favourites on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Dance leader Gwen Mason said the club was mainly a hit with people in their 60s, but members’ ages ranged from 30 to 85.

Mrs Mason, from Plane Tree Way, in Woodstock, said: “Most of our members are in their 60s but anybody can come along.

“The classes tend to be old time classics, but with a few modern twists like line dancing.”

Kenneth Kelly, from Yarnton, first went to the classes for ‘something to do’ and to keep fit but has made some firm friends in the last year.

Mr Kelly said: “It was my daughter who suggested I should start going.

“I was kind of sitting around the house not doing anything.

“When I was younger and lived in London I used to love going rock ’n’ roll dancing.

“But then my wife and I had children and I stopped.

“I had never seen a Tea Dance before, but it definitely keeps you feeling fit and young.”

Frances and Michael Maxwell, from Tackley, are also among the regulars.

Mrs Maxwell, 65, said: “Gwen is very good at getting people up and moving.

“We’ve been coming here for years and it is lovely, a very sociable event.

“The aim is just to get people up and moving but it has been amazing to see how people have come on since they joined.

“We used to go dancing when we were younger.

“We were more into Rock’n’Roll routines in those days and now it is more sequence dancing and melody Fox Trots.”