For over twenty years the Golden Girls (plus two gents) have been running line dancing classes, first at the now demolished Emmanuel Church near Salford Precinct, and, since it opened in 2009, at the Pendleton Gateway centre.
The group hire two rooms at the Gateway every Thursday afternoon and up to two dozen people there's no-one under sixty and the eldest is 87 learn new dances as a DJ hits the tunes.
"It's a nice day out and we look forward to it" says Golden Girl Pat Legge "Here, it's handy for the buses and they go shopping first and then come here. It's good for their health and we do line dancing because you don't need a partner. It's a bit of exercise, a bit of learning the steps and they enjoy it."
Indeed, the Golden Girls is much more than mere dancing. It's a chance for elderly people to socialise, get out of the house and enjoy themselves.
"To us it doesn't matter if they get it wrong, it's just a laugh" adds Anne Liston "People come from all over Salford Ordsall, Swinton, Pendleton, the 'Heights... We always organise a Christmas party too."
This year's Christmas party, however, might be the last for the Golden Girls. After the Christmas break on 18th December Salford Council is imposing a fee of £42 a week for the group to hire the two rooms it needs at the Gateway, money that these elderly people just cannot afford.
"At the moment we don't pay anything because it's a community activity" Anne explains "If we've got to pay £42, it's a lot of money and if we can't find anywhere else we'll have to pay but we can't afford it so there is a danger of shutting down."
Pat agrees: "We will have to start charging people and if they don't all turn up we'll still have to pay for the rooms. People have doctor's appointments or they get ill, so if we only get, say, twelve people, we've still got to cover the £42. Everyone's very upset.
"I think the Council should squash this, and do more for the old age pensioners, they should be looking after the elderly as they'll be old themselves one day" she adds "Well, most of them are already but they're well off..."
The Golden Girls and other community groups facing the new charges find themselves at the sharp end of an extortionate, complicated high finance deal Salford Council entered into to build the Pendleton Gateway and two other Gateways in Walkden and Eccles.
Similar to the hated and controversial PFI schemes, Salford Council entered into a partnership with the MaST LIFT company. This finance vehicle, which has former MP Lord Keith Bradley as a director (remuneration undisclosed in the company's accounts) is part of a multitude of companies building a multitude of health centres around the country.
Within the three MaSTCo companies operating in Salford, and responsible for the Pendleton, Eccles and Walkden Gateways, Salford Council has a 3.3% stake, alongside Manchester and Trafford Councils. Community Health Partnerships (which took over from the PCT) has a 30% stake and the remaining 60% is owned by Primary Plus Holdings which developer John Laing sold to private investment companies Equitix and Community Solutions in 2011.
Way back in 2005 Salford Council's own `Regeneration Initiatives Cabinet Working Group' warned that the Council building its own centres would be more "cost effective" but that the PCT (Primary Care Trust, now abolished) had already "committed to an exclusivity clause within the LIFT agreement". Now groups like the Golden Girls are paying the price.
The total cost of building the three Gateway centres was £36.2million (Pendleton £16.5m, Eccles £9m and Walkden £10.7m). Salford Council only leased a portion of the buildings for libraries, one-stop shops and community rooms. Yet it's paying over £1million a year in rental costs, or £28.9million over the next 24 years (according to Salford Council's latest accounts) almost the cost of building them, for less than a third of the space.
Meanwhile, Community Health Partnerships is paying over £3million a year in rent to the MaST LIFT company over the next 24 years a conservatively massive £72million. Add it up and, if the figures are correct, the public is paying over £100million for three centres that cost just over £36million to build. And at the end of the 24 years, Salford Council has an option to buy the Eccles Gateway for a fee of £600,000!
Salford Council's huge rental costs for the Gateways are now being passed onto community groups, while Community Health Partnerships isn't passing on the costs to groups that use the Gateways under its umbrella, such as mental health drop-ins, the Salford Star understands.
At last month's meeting of Salford Council's Adult Services Scrutiny Committee councillors were furious at the new charges being imposed and have called for a full report in the future.
"I'm concerned that the Gateways were built for community use and now they've put these charges on the rooms for community groups and it's causing some to look elsewhere, out of the area, or to close" Councillor John Warmisham told the Salford Star after the Scrutiny meeting.
"There was a real concern by the longstanding dancing group, that has been in Langworthy for over twenty years, that they were going to have to close because of the cost" he added "For some of our most vulnerable and older people this club is a lifeline, helping them socialise, keeping them healthy and being able to make new friendships and continue old friendships. The whole process needs reviewing. Community groups such as this shouldn't have to pay such a high charge."
When Pendleton Gateway opened in 2009 Lord Keith Bradley, chairman of MaST LIFTCo hailed the new building... "The response of the community through significantly increased usage numbers from improved accessibility is a vindication of the investment in this joint service facility" he said "MaST LIFTCo has a track record of delivering high quality, value for money and affordable facilities with Pendleton Gateway..."
John Merry, then Salford Council Leader, added: "This is more than a resource centre or a place where people can get to the services they need, it is a focal point for the community and I am delighted it has been taken to people's hearts so quickly."
Now that very `resource centre' is threatening to pull the plug on the heart of the community.
"Here, there's nice people who come, we enjoy the dancing, it's sociable and we have a chat" says Edith Rothwell, who has been dancing with the Golden Girls for 18 years "It's my only bit of pleasure..."
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