Majorettes

[Spudthespanner]

Remember this? In the 90s there was always a couple of wee lassies in your class that went to majorettes. What happened to majorettes? Vanished like steering wheel locks. Just gone from society.

I never was one but desperately wanted to be! I went to a fancy dress thing as one and my mum painted my wellies white to wear and made me a hat! This was in the 1980's.

We had them in Kent. I was fascinated by them in the local carnival but I knew I'd be hopeless at it. Did get the sense that if you were middle-class you went to ballet and if you weren't, you did majorettes. Brownies was good (apart from all the God stuff) because it was much more mixed.

Not majorettes, but Morris dancing in the 70s in Lancashire. White pumps with silver bells and ribbons, crepe paper pompom poms, short dresses and bows at the back of your hair. I was in one of the best troupes, we won loads of trophies and had dozens of medals. It was great exercise and i made a lot of friends. Happy memories.

I have gen-Z relatives (male and female) who compete internationally 🤷

I remember this from the 80s - never had any interest in being one, but they'd always be in the town carnival (remember those?!). We were S/E based.

Interesting about it being a south west thing. I grew up in Dorset and there were loads of troops. Now live in Yorkshire and there isn’t any in our small town. (But there is a cheer squad).

I remember mums being expected to sew things. My Infant school in the 70s required mums to sew a shoe bag to a particular pattern. The mums also made long party dresses. I remember my mum buying the fabric. Black with pink roses on it. I loved it.
I was surprised that when dd1 started Reception in 2008, we were asked to provide a painting apron made from a man's shirt. A bought one was not wanted. I think that had stopped by the time dd2 started in 2011.

Dont know about majorettes but steering wheel locks are still deffo a thing.

Yeah, town carnivals always had them when I was a kid (1980s, south-east England). There'd be several troupes of them.

I only ever knew one girl who actually did it, though, and her mum ran the troupe and was one of those very bossy, overbearing types who took it all very seriously.

My memory of seeing majorette troupes marching is that usually, there was one at the front who was a teenager doing all the fancy stuff tossing the baton in the air, and the others were just trotting along behind and usually not quite in time with each other and doing some fairly minimal baton twirling. There were usually some very little ones who were just kind of toddling around hopelessly at the back.

We knew a little girl 10 years ago who went to cheerleading, if that’s the same thing?

Haven’t seen a steering wheel lock since the late 90s

Definitely firmly working class in Glasgow as I remember it

I was never in them (80s kid) but they brought back the carnival in my local town and revived the majorettes troup- my DD did it last year and was marching in the carnival. Great fun and good exercise!

I went for a bit in the early 90s. Then they changed the time and for some reason we didn’t get the message so I turned up halfway through the class one week and was so embarrassed and sad that nobody had told me I never went back. Core memory

I went, very briefly, very young, in 80s, not in Glasgow but not far away.

I remember having a baton, and arguing with the girl from across the road about the correct way to twirl it. We were chanting "chocolate, strawberry, chocolate, strawberry" as we dipped each end of the baton in imaginary food 🤣.

They still exist in the south west.

I was so desperate to be a majorette,I used to practice in the garden with wooden spoons instead on batons.

Only a couple of weeks ago my friend and I were wondering if morris dancing is still a thing as they are bringing back the annual gala in our Lancashire town. Pronounced gay-la. You could hear them jingling streets away.

Still going in my local area (near Glasgow) but its called Baton class now, and is offered alongside other dance styles like cheer, acro, street etc. Its quite popular and you can do exams in it as well.

I always wanted to be a Majorette. The baton twirling & the uniforms 😍!
The city I grew up in had a Lord Mayor's Day parade every summer and the Majorettes would always be part of the parade marching along, throwing their spinning batons in the air and generally looking awesome!
From what I understand, you had to be athletic, well coordinated, pretty & know the right people to get in to the training (so I never stood a chance!). I'm assuming its popularity was superseded by Cheerleading.

Never had them anywhere near me... but this has reminded me of Catherine Tate's Bunty character, who was from the North East from memory!

Me too. Except that I had a garden cane, a dusty bin on my head and a pair of my mum’s American tan tights with white ankle socks over the top. Thanks goodness there is no photographic evidence.

NE Scotland and I did it in the 80s. I loved it. Did shows. Mum used to make my dresses and hats!

I actually can’t remember why or when I stopped.

Steering wheel locks are back in! Seems to be the only thing which stops land rovers getting stolen!

They were a massive thing in my home town in Co Durham, my prettier, thinner, cousin competed. Their uniform wasn't trousers though, it was a skirt, white kneesocks over american tan tights. I'm sure we used to call them Jazz Bands though, not majorettes .