BY ROBYN PARKES
On Easter Monday 1891, a picnic and cricket match were held on Mr Alex Thomson’s property for the school children of the Baton community.
As was to be expected, a number of men gathered together to chat and in this a suggestion was put forward by Mr William Stanley that it would be good to hold a bachelor’s ball.
The suggestion was taken up and Stanley, along with Messrs Will Taylor, James Gilroy and John White became the committee to make the idea a reality, with 24 April selected as the date for the ball.
Mrs A Thomson and Mrs P Gilroy volunteered to organise promotions for the evening and hand-wrote invitations, with all parents in the district being invited and encouraged to attend.
It was agreed that all the bachelors who contributed to the expenses of organising the entertainment should have the privilege of inviting two other friends, young ladies or anyone they chose.
Some of the young men were well known in the district and were also known as being ‘lady killers’, and they ignored the ‘invite two other friends’ and instead invited five or six young ladies each.
All of those on the committee were appointed different jobs including some to be the cooks, some as waiters and others as washers-up, etc, to both share the load but also to ensure that there were no hitches.
A large number of people attended on the night with the dancing beginning at 7.30pm under the supervision of Mr Albert Stanley.
In between the dances were songs, duets, and recitations.
At 11pm, tea, coffee and other drinks were served up, and again at 4am the following morning.
In between times people were able to move outside to the marque where food was for anyone needing sustenance.
A thoroughly enjoyable evening ensued with the ball finally ending at half past six in the morning with the singing of God Save the Queen.
Thanks were given to the bachelors on behalf of all those attending, for their efforts and a recommendation was made to make sure the ball was held again as it contributed to good fellowship.
The ball was repeated the following year in the schoolroom, but was not as successful as the first. Many invitations were sent out but on the evening the weather was bad and only a small number attended.
The men had erected a large tent outside, but the rain became heavy and lasted most of the night, therefore making it unusable.
Dancing commenced at 6.30pm with music provided by Messrs Taylor playing the accordion and Mr Wilkinson playing the violin, and Mr A Stanley acting as M.C.
Singing by Mr and Mrs Wilkinson, Mrs Gilroy and others was plentiful during the evening and the ball continued well into the small hours of the following morning.
