But when it comes to dancing Garth Baldwin reckons he could give John Travolta a run for his money.

The 58-year-old has been dancing for the past 35 years but you won't find him in the disco. He prefers to dance in the street waving a stick, sword or handkerchief.

Garth, who lives in Mytholmroyd with his wife, Olwyn, is one of Calderdale's most experienced morris dancers and is a member of the Colne Royal Morris Men based over the hill in Lancashire. Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of male dancers.

Garth spends his weekends during the summer dancing at festivals all over the country but 12 months ago found his steps were getting heavier and he was getting out of breath quickly because of his 20 stone frame.

"I have always been a big lad. As a 16-year-old I weighed 18 stone but in my younger days I was more active so I didn't notice it," says Garth claims his sedentary driving job for Jaggers of Luddenden Foot doesn't help.

So he joined Denise Weston's WeightWatchers class in Hebden Bridge and in 12 months has lost five stone. "My weight was starting to interfere with my dancing and I couldn't have that," says Garth who got into morris dancing after watching a group perform at a folk club he used to run in Heptonstall.

He weighed in at 20 stone 9lb last year but now tips the scales at 15 stone 9lb but still has two stone to shed.

"I'm like a new man. I don't just look different I feel different too. I am not as tired as I used to be at the end of the day and I have lots more energy, " says Garth.

His diet has now changed for the better. He eats lots of chicken and fish, rather than red meat, and has cut down on his portions sizes and his pints of beer. He also eats less bread, butter and cheese, the three things he has always enjoyed.

Friends who haven't seen him for a while always start by asking him if he is ill. "I tell them I have never felt better and I am enjoying my dancing again. It's now so much easier," says Garth who dances with a team of nine men and has had to buy new dancing pants and shirts. A whole new wardrobe beckons next but not until he has lost his final two stone.

Then he says he might well be twinkle toes.!!!