ENERGY and determination have been the driving force behind dancer and ice skating sensation Dinkie Flowers’ career since she learnt her first moves at three years old.

As she celebrated her 97th birthday yesterday, she is still as inspirational as ever, keeping fit most days of the week and teaching dance classes in Shoreham.

Dinkie honed her skills at London’s Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts and the Doris Isaacs School of Dance.

Born in Hove, she used to love ice skating in Brighton’s old Sports Stadium in West Street, after the SS Brighton swimming pool was converted into a rink.

Although she was not aiming to be a professional skater, Dinkie’s acrobatic abilities led to her being scouted by Tom Arnold’s production company, launching her career on the ice.

Dinkie said: “I went on to dance and skate all over the world. My mother used to say to me ‘you can’t skate, you are a dancer’. I started to skate at the West Street ice rink. I was there once doing cartwheels and walking on my hands and everybody started clapping.

“Somebody came over to me and asked, ‘are you a professional?’ I said ‘no not at the moment’. He was a talent scout who asked if I wanted to be in his show. He then offered me £20 a week and I thought if they want me then they can pay me. When they phoned me the next time they offered me £100 a week.”

Dinkie was scouted by the company in her late teens and went on to appear in her first production at the Brighton ice rink, Hello Ice, where she performed two solos, including the can-can.

She said: “My mother was amazed. She was always very supportive of me.”

Reflecting on some of her trips abroad to skate, Dinkie said: “I went to Baghdad after the British Embassy asked me to go and they built me a little rink there. That was for me to dance on the ice and it was beautiful. That is one of my highlights, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

“I danced out there for a long time. They then wanted to sell the rink after I had been there for six months and said I could come home. The people there wouldn’t let go of me and thought I came with the rink! The embassy had to come over and sort it all out.”

Dinkie, who moved to Shoreham with her mother when she was in her early twenties, has been teaching dance for 50 years.

She opened the Shoreham Centre with renowned astronomer Patrick Moore in the early 1970s.

The pair worked together on an opera by Mr Moore called Perseus and Andromeda in 1974, which she choreographed at the centre.

The international ice skater went on to set up the Dinkie Flowers Stage School at the centre after the building’s grand opening and later built her own home studio to hold lessons in.

As well as her regular dance lessons held at the centre, Dinkie also choreographed numerous shows for the Shoreham Light Opera Company.

Dinkie, whose stage name was Dinkie Stapleton, appeared in Puss In Boots On Ice in 1952 and many other shows, including a rendition of Dick Whittington on the ice.

She also appeared in stage show The Boy Friend at the Barn Theatre in Southwick.

Dinkie said: “The last time I performed on the ice would have been around 20 years ago when I was in Stars On Ice in Brighton.

“I used to practise all my numbers in my sleep. All I wanted to do at school was dance. I wouldn’t be here without my dance. From the age of three I have danced and have never stopped. I am not likely to until they take me out in a box.”

When The Argus visited the Shoreham Centre last week, Dinkie was still as active as ever, teaching a class of four young girls who were clearly inspired by her passion and resolve for the artform. Even with an injured shoulder, she was still up on the stage leading from the front with a smile.

Birthday reunion

A BIRTHDAY party to celebrate Dinkie Flowers’ 97th year looks set to be a reunion to remember.

The party will be held at the Shoreham Centre in Pond Road on Saturday.

Dinkie said: “I am looking forward to seeing all the people I know.

“A lot of those coming will be the people I taught and their children.

“So that is going back rather a long way.”

Guests will be treated to afternoon cream tea, live entertainment, drinks and an array of pictures and memorabilia of Dinkie’s life as a performer and teacher.

A projector will display a variety of old photographs of Dinkie throughout her career on the wall of the centre’s main hall, where Dinkie still holds dance lessons.

Lesley Tomlinson, a friend who is organising the event, said: “I am hoping that she gets some old friends coming to enjoy the party and the memorabilia will be fun to see.

“It will be lovely for people to come back to the centre and celebrate her birthday with her.

“She has two of her old ice skating friends who are in their nineties we hope can make it too.”

Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, is also expected to attend the party and give a speech.

The celebration will start at 1pm and finish at 5pm.

Tickets for the party are £7 for adults and £3.50 for under tens.

They are available to buy from the Shoreham Centre or by calling Ms Tomlinson on 07966 394986.