Dance hall raid

Doors locked as cards are checked

Couples enjoying a Saturday night out at a Stirling dance hall had a shock 100 years ago this week when the venue was raided.

Soldiers from Stirling Castle, assisted by members of the Burgh Constabulary, sealed the exits of the Palace Tea Rooms in Castle Wynd before checking whether the men there were dodging call-up.

It was one of many raids on places of entertainment, frequented by young men, which were taking place across the country.

Services chiefs desperately needed new recruits to replace those who had died or were wounded and no longer fit for further frontline action.

Dances regularly took place in the hall attached to the tea room, said the Observer, adding: “After guarding the exits, the hall was entered and door locked and the male dancers, who numbered about 50, were asked to show their registration cards and exemption certificates.

“The ladies, meanwhile, were sent upstairs to be out of the way. Twenty-eight young men were found to have neither registration card nor exemption certificate and were marched to the post office in Broad Street were their names and addresses were taken.”

A “fair proportion” of those came from Plean, Fallin, Bannockburn and other areas outside Stirling.

Following the raid – which caused a “good deal of excitement in the Top of the Town” – the dancing did not resume.

The Observer added: “It is expected that few if any ‘shirkers’ will be found among the men rounded up as they are mostly employed in the coal pits which is a certified occupation and most of them have been working there since they left school.

“There may be some prosecutions, however, for failing to produce registration cards when asked by the police, and also for neglecting to notify a change of address.”

And there was, said the paper, a threat the dance hall could close as the military authorities had the power to take such action under the Defence of the Realm Act.