WITH Valentine’s day this week, romance is in the air.

These days a romantic dinner is usually on the menu, but it used to be a date to go dancing with the respectable opportunity to get up-close and personal that was the popular choice.

And what better dance band locally than Bertoni’s?

Winners of local and regional dance band championships, they were regular performers at the Public Hall dances, especially those in aid of the Welcome Home Fund after the war.

The line-up here in about 1946 is left to right: Dennis Bullen, Norman Griffiths, Ken Griffiths, Roy Meredith, Bob Phillips, Cliff Sadler, Des Pewtner, Stan Jones, Malcolm Griffiths and Ron Sjoberg.

Text by the curator of Monmouthshire Museums. Photograph from the collections of Chepstow Museum ©Monmouthshire Museums