Tributes to dance queen
Freda Hayward, who for years ran the Freda Oliver School of Dancing in Maidstone, has died aged 90.
Mrs Hayward, known as Freddie, taught hundreds of children how to dance, and sometimes their children too.
With her husband Frank, she also founded the theatre group which for 26 years provided Maidstone with its annual pantomime.
Mrs Hayward was born in Maidstone in 1926 to Albert and Frances Oliver. She started dancing herself at an early age and was determined eventually to run her own school.
On leaving Maidstone Commercial School (now Invicta Grammar), she joined the staff at Royal Insurance in the High Street and spent the war years there. After the war, she took the plunge and left her safe office job to form her dancing school.
She married Frank Hayward in 1959. Together they formed a formidable partnership producing and performing in a range of shows.
In 1966, the couple put on their first pantomime, Cinderella, at the Municipal (Hazlitt) Theatre.
The following year, they formed the Theatre Group and continued to put on a panto every year until 1992.
They had two children, Jill and Sally, who were roped in as part of the cast from their early years. As Jill’s birthday fell in December, her parties were sometimes held on stage between performances.
Christmas preparations at the family’s home in College Road, above the school, always involved removing costumes from the living room to make room for the tree, and meter readers were warned to beware the pantomime camel in the cellar.
The couple retired to Sidmouth in Devon in 1993, where Mrs Hayward became active in the WI, and Mr Hayward, now 86, served as an independent councillor on Sidmouth Town Council.
They both joined the Sidmouth Songsters choir, raising hundreds of pounds for charity, and didn’t put their song books away until 2012.
Mrs Hayward died on June 18. She leaves her husband, daughters and three grandchildren.