A ballet teacher who has provided lessons to children of all ages for almost 20 years has announced her retirement.

Fee Jeanes, 56, of the Fee Jeanes Ballet School, made the decision to close her doors just before Christmas due to a lack of long-term interest after the  pandemic. She was a dance instructor for 18 years.

Some of the many students Fee has taught over the years turned up to greet her at her last class.

A student's testimonial said: "I’ve danced with Miss Fee for many years - her ability to teach is a credit to the town."

Fee started dancing at the age of three at the Bernard Gale School of Dancing in Bridport with her sister Nikki.

After Mr Gale passed away in 2006, Fee took on toddler ballet classes.

She said: “When Bernard passed away, I said to myself that I need to keep doing this."

It was here that popularity for her classes skyrocketed, and after starting with one class of 12 at 3pm she went on to offer classes hourly to different age groups as the numbers ‘kept increasing.’

Fee started teaching ballet whilst working as a nurse at Bridport Community Hospital where a colleague asked her if she could put on a class for adults.

She said: “I put up an advert for adult classes and I had sold out overnight following 42 enquiries.

“This is when I opened my eyes and kept going, for the freedom of dance which was good for mental health.”

She achieved a personal dream after raising £8,000 of funds to put on a ballet performance of Cinderella at the Bridport Electric Palace, which she wrote and performed in.

Bridport and Lyme Regis News:

Another highlight throughout her career as a dance teacher was when Fee opened her doors to people suffering from dementia, saying that it was ‘amazing to see how music had lifted them.’

Fee has also performed in pantomime performances with the Bridport Players.

Giving classes at the Bradpole Village Hall, Fee had more than 100 students ranging from the ages of 3 to 18 before the pandemic hit, where problems with attendance started to occur.  

Fee said: “When Covid hit, I had to close the school and went on to spend 800 hours during the pandemic to keep it running online.

“It was going well, and even when numbers dropped from 105 to 38, I still had the drive to keep going.” 

A change in career from nursing to palliative care nursing took its toll on Fee, as she had to change venue and struggled to keep the classes going after the lockdown.

She said: “I was struggling and something just hit me, I needed to stop and re-evaluate my life, so I took this huge decision to retire.

“I think the lack of interest is simply down to children having more variety in what they can do after school now.”

Fee said her last class proved to be emotional, as ex-students turned up to greet her.

She said: “It’s been a huge part of my life, thank you to all my students - I’ve had a ball. The love shown to me has been immense and I hope my love of ballet will be passed on to everybody I’ve taught.”

Fee said she will always be there for students that need her and will continue to give classes online from her own home occasionally.