The boy who left Corby aged 12 to follow his ballet dancing dream - Robin Woolmer obituary

In the days when most boys from Corby went straight from school into the steelworks, Robin Woolmer had different ideas.

Aged just 12, he left the town to pursue his ambition to become a ballet dancer – eventually achieving his dream.

Robin, who died on August 17, was born in Corby in 1949 to a local family and attended Studfall Infant and Junior Schools.

His brother Christopher, 80, who still lives in Corby, told the Northants Telegraph just how proud he was of his younger sibling.

He said: “I used to do tap dancing and Robin didn’t like it so he asked my mum if he could do ballet instead.

"So they switched him over and he went to Wendy Sharpe School of Dance."

Robin soon excelled and was invited to join the world-renowned Rambert School of Ballet in Twickenham aged just 12, where he became a boarder.

After completing school aged 18, he went off to Europe to audition for several ballet companies, eventually settling at the Scapino Ballet in Rotterdam, where he danced from 1970 to 1991 in more than 70 roles.

Christopher said: “He tried to retire several times but the company wouldn’t let him and he ended up dancing until he was 45.

"He had an amazing career and then when he finished he worked in the theatre doing the lighting.

"Although he never came back to Corby, he never forgot the town. He loved Corby Town FC and always supported England, as do his children.”

After he had moved to Rotterdam, Robin married his wife Marijke and together they had three now-grown-up children – Kelly, Sienna and Emlyn who was named after footballer Emlyn Hughes.

He often travelled back to Corby and was featured in the Northants Telegraph several times, including when he spent his holidays working at a filling station on the corner of Forest Gate Road.

Robin died of pneumonia following a short spell of illness in his adopted home town of Diemen in The Netherlands where his funeral was held last week, attended by several members of his family from Corby.