Stephen Walsh, now 71, was a workaholic who never thought he would retire. But after a stomach ulcer landed him in hospital at age 57, he decided to change his life. He gave his business partners three years' notice, and despite their disbelief, he retired at 60. Nine years later, he is a tap dancer in a troupe called Pat's Happy Tappers at Great Alne Park retirement village in Warwickshire.
A health scare sparks a decision
Walsh had spent decades working in training and consultancy after the General Electric Company was broken up in 1999. His partners doubted he would ever leave. “You’ll never retire,” they said. But Walsh kept his word. He told his remaining partner: “I’m not doing the retirement thing where I come back for 20 days a year to get some pocket money. This is really and truly it. Only invite me back for the Christmas parties.” He still attends those parties every year.
Finding purpose in retirement
Initially, Walsh tackled home projects he had ignored for 20 years. But soon, “every day was like Groundhog Day … I thought: ‘What do I do now?’” He moved into Great Alne Park, a retirement community run by Inspired Villages, at age 62. There, he gave talks on astronomy, joined the film club, and learned to tap dance. “Retirement once had that end-of-your-life feel,” he says. “Now you’re not hanging up your boots. In this case, I was getting new ones – with taps on them.”
Overcoming a mental block
Walsh grew up in Leigh, Greater Manchester, watching musicals on TV with his sisters. “I loved watching the dancing,” he says, but he considered himself a poor dancer. “I couldn’t dance at all. Trying to learn the waltz, after three steps, I’d get lost.” When a fellow resident and former dance teacher started a tap club, Walsh went to offer moral support at age 67. He decided to overcome his mental block and soon bought his first tap shoes, trying them out on his kitchen tiles. “We don’t want to break people,” he says. “There’s always one foot on the floor. No big jumps.”
Pat's Happy Tappers take the stage
The troupe, named after teacher Pat, performs shows and has taken part in a flash mob in Stratford-on-Avon. “Before you knew it, a whole group of us were dancing,” Walsh says. He is currently learning Anything Goes from the Cole Porter musical. “We danced it [in rehearsal] and at the end we burst out laughing. It was pretty faultless. There’s that buzz of it coming together. When we’re coordinated, we hear it. It’s not a clatter – we’re tapping in time.”
Community and belonging
Tap dancing has replaced work for Walsh. “I have a sense of purpose. I feel valued. I have a sense of belonging. And I’m having fun.” The retirement community reminds him of the close-knit working-class neighbourhood where he grew up. “It’s about finding common interests and helping each other when we need help, and supporting each other through loneliness.” Now, he says, he is helping to create that same community for others.
