Burnley centenarian and great great great grandad Alan Stanworth credits dancing for his longevity

Alan, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, believes that dancing is the key to longevity and he was hardly off the dancefloor with family and friends at a party to celebrate his landmark birthday.

Alan lived on Gannow Lane as a child and attended Rosegrove School. He started work at the age of 14 at Economic, where they made boilers. Called up to serve in India with the East Lancashire Regiment in 1939, when Alan returned home he worked for as a machinist making parts for textile looms. He married his late wife Emily at the age of 22 and the couple bought their first home in Padiham for £800. They had two daughters, Joan and Carole, and a dog called Wendy. The family moved to Burnley where they bought their second house for £1,800 and it is still Alan’s home to this day.

Alan has happy memories of caravan holidays in Morecambe with Emily and their grandchildren and every year the whole family, including relatives from Margate and Ramsgate, would meet up at Pontins Cambersands. The grandfather of five, who also has 11 great grandchildren, 10 great great grandchildren and one great great great grandchild with another on the way, loved his holidays in Benidorm with Emily. And he continues to enjoy an annual holiday there each year with his daughters, and he even celebrated his 100th birthday there. Alan’s love for dancing began in 1985 when he started sequence dancing with Emily at Burnley’s Ighten Mount Club. Paying tribute to Alan, one of his granddaughters, Kerry Hulton, said: “He’s simply amazing and I’m so proud to be his granddaughter.”