Each Thursday afternoon, the rhythmic sound of tapping feet and ballroom music drifts out of the New Windmill Hall and across Upminster Park in east London.
Inside, around two dozen couples in their 70s, 80s and 90s whirl around the hall at the weekly Havering Tea Dance.
It is run by Rita Sinclair, a woman credited with bringing the elderly community of this part of Havering together in dance – and who has just been nominated for a BBC Local Radio Make a Difference Award.
Yet when she found out she had been put up for the award, her reaction wasn’t quite as one might expect.
“When I found out I was nominated I thought, ‘well that’s ridiculous, why?'” says Rita.
“If I was to win, I would feel more embarrassment than anything else!”
