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 grew up in a town in the north west and it was very much this — ballet of your parents were (or aspired to be) middle class; majorettes if not. I was quite fascinated by the baton-twirling and couldn’t imagine how they got to doing it that fast!

Oh that's brilliant 🤣😂 I'm stunned my parents didn't sign me up,I went on and on about it ALL the time,it would've shut me up if nothing else. We had them in my town ffs 😢

They're definitely becoming a thing again since digital car keys are so rubbish!

Most definitely,my dad has one!

My cousin has a baton. Not one of us could understand how to do a decent baton twirl. I had a friend I met at uni who grew up just outside Glasgow who was part of a group that competed - there were flag waters, marchers and I am assuming pipers. Anyone know what that was?

Commonly known as crook locks (east london). I have seen quite a few about - especially on big 4x4s

My cousin was in a majorette band - drums, kazoo and glockenspiels with lots of baton twirlers. Her band went to the world championships (in the Isle of Man from memeory) and she won a massive trophy. It was a huge thing in the 1970s. Our local troupe was in a Cliff Richard movie (in his hey day).

I grew up in Stoke, they were called “troops” (or possibly “troupes” - I never saw it written down). They were at every public event in the 80’s. Always thought they were weird, sort of mechanical-looking, and I couldn’t see the appeal at all.

I was in a very large group South Coast mid/late 70’s. We had three different troupes mostly divided by age. When we marched / twirled together at local carnivals etc it was quite a sight! My Mum was one of the designated seamstresses- lots of braid involved! We were all about the marching, I think it changed more into cheerleading / acrobatics in more recent years

Yes my parents would always make me use the crook lock on my car as a teen - as it was quite old and they were worried someone would steal it for joy riding!

I did majorettes from about the age of 5 until 15 in 2005ish. Absolutely loved it! Best memories growing up 🫶 We were north West based and every Sunday we'd get on the double decker bus and go to somewhere in north Wales to a competition. Rhyl, tir prince, always a fun packed sunday 🤩 loved every moment of it and even now, i wish I had a baton to twirl 😅

OMG I was a majorette in the late 70’s! South west. I can remember the carnivals and the Lords Mayor Parade for the Queens jubilee!!

God love you 🥰

it was very much a thing when I was a child (80's, NW) and i hadn't seen or heard of it for years until a video randomly popped up on my facebook feed a couple of weeks ago. Lots of pompoms and strutting about on tip toes.

protestants? Sounds like an orange order march!

Majorettes were a big thing in France in the 80s as well

They were a thing when I was little, there was a village gala and they used to march from one end of the village to the other where the school field was (it’s now a housing estate). All the different groups did it I remember our majorettes, Coffee & Cream majorettes and the ones from the nearby villages. This was a small mining community.

It’s quite prevalent here (major city) but you never see them march, we normally see them at the leisure centre for competitions.

It was huge where I grew up in Essex in the 70's/80's. I never got the hang of it but my younger sister was in a group.

I remember her practising her solo routines for competitions and then during the summer was attending carnival parades with marching bands all over Essex and Kent. ( Marching bands were a big thing too)

My hairdresser's niece is a majorette.

I was in the south west & it was big in my town but I dunno, some people were a tiny bit snobby about it? I think it was slightly waning already by mid 90s.

i was a majorette. Loved it

That's what came up when I googled but I saw a video and it was much more like a big display competition thing.

I know 🤣

They were one of the things I was never allowed to even think about joining as my grandmother thought they were common.
Weren’t they the same as cheerleaders?
but yes, disappeared without a trace…

To be honest, looking back at which girls always signed up to majorettes… common is a word that comes to mind 😬

I don’t know the history behind majorettes. On the face of it it does look very American in the way cheerleading does.