Jean Martin of Fraserburgh

All members of the RSCDS will recognise the strathspey, Jean Martin of Aberdeen. Jean was RSCDS Chairman from 2002 until 2004 and has been Society President since 2016. Although she has lived in Aberdeen for most of her life, Jean was born and brought up in Fraserburgh, 40 miles north. She studied English at Aberdeen University and after teacher training, taught at Inverurie Academy. In this interview with Jimmie Hill, she talks about her life, dancing, and the RSCDS.

Did you dance at school?

Yes, I did the usual ballet and tap, neither of which was quite me! But then I went to Bobby Watson’s Highland class in Fraserburgh. He came from Aberdeen once a week and that was really my introduction to Scottish dancing. In school our teachers taught Scottish country dancing in the winter from time to time and I continued while at university. I danced with the Queens Cross Dancers, the Aberdeen Branch and a group of dancers from the Branch, known as the Rubislaw Dancers.

You must have taken part in the Aberdeen Festival when you were at school?

Yes, I remember dancing in my Girl Guide uniform with my lanyard and whistle bouncing about. We never took it too seriously. It was fun, just as it is to this day. I think the success of the Scottish Festivals depends on the number of teachers out in the schools who themselves dance. It’s certainly true in Aberdeen. That’s why we have hundreds of children taking part every year. I have trained quite a few schoolteachers to teach country dancing and it is very rewarding to see them bring teams to compete. I think living up here in the North East, where it can be pretty cold and dark from October to March, you need an indoor pursuit! Getting schoolteachers dancing is the key to getting their classes dancing.

When did you start going to St Andrews?

It was the Aberdeen pianist Nan Main who persuaded me to go for the first time. At St Andrews I was one of Miss Milligan’s ‘young team’ in the mid 1960s. Up to that point the Thursday night demonstration team had always been members of the teaching staff or PE teachers. It was Miss Adams who suggested to Miss Milligan that she should have some of the young people, and since then it has mostly been a team made up of participants, and not staff. At that time the very advanced dancers and the teachers were all together in one big class in the Younger Hall, taught by Miss Milligan. She had quite a good sense of humour, but you did what you were told. She wasn’t really a frosty sort of person. I remember the year she taught Book 23, which means it was 1967. I was dancing with my friend, Alastair Reid. The dance was The Auld Alliance. The first 16 bars use alternately right and left hand. She stopped the class and announced, “There’s someone holding on with the wrong hand, so we’ll repeat the last 8 bars.” After those 8 bars, she stopped the music again, “Mr Reid, your OTHER left hand!” I think that is where the phrase comes from! And of course, this was my partner and me. We were totally embarrassed, but everybody was laughing.

Did you do your teaching certificates at St Andrews?

I did both in Aberdeen. Lesley Martin, no relation, was the tutor. Jean Milligan was my examiner for both certificates. I will never forget my Preliminary Certificate. I had not got very far into my lesson when Miss Milligan announced, “Miss Campbell, that will do. Thank you very much.” I was nonplussed, but I got the message that I had to leave the room. She probably recognised that I was a teacher by profession, and she had seen enough to pass me, but it was quite off-putting. It was quite a worrying wait until I got the letter!

What was dancing like in the north east in the swinging 60s?

We went to a country dance class during the week, but we jived too. Country dances tended to be on Friday evenings, so we were free to do other types of dancing on Saturday nights. In those days we didn’t have mobile phones or social media, so the only way to meet people was to take part in some organised activity. I think the North East has always been a more traditional part of the country. As you get north of Perth, I think cultural traditions are more valued.

You lived for a while in Swaziland.

Yes, we moved out there a month after Iain and I got married. It’s now called the Kingdom of eSwatini. We were there for just over two years while Iain was on secondment from the School of Agriculture here in Aberdeen to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN. We were in Mbabane where there were other foreigners, including quite a lot of Scots, and there was a country dance class which I ended up teaching. I was also persuaded to take an after-school class in SCD in the school where I taught. I remember we had very poor equipment. The few vinyl records we had were very scratchy, so I asked Nan Main if she would produce a tape for me and she sent it out. It is now in the Society Archive, so anyone can now hear her playing.

Can you tell us a bit more about Nan Main?

Her married name was Mrs Ernest Allen. She was a small unassuming lady. She played for a lot of classes in Aberdeen and was one of Jean Milligan’s favourites at Summer School. She used to play for the whole month. Nan had trained in Dalcroze Eurhythmics in London. She composed as well as playing. Her tunes were very popular at the time, especially with other pianists because at that time Summer School musicians were all pianists. Her tunes don’t fit the accordion in the same way. She was particularly good at composing second tunes – tunes that were appropriate to complement the customary tune. Many of her tunes are in the Aberdeen City Archives. She wrote a couple of tunes to complement The Frisky and they are just right. Her brother was a percussionist and the two of them used to play for social dances once a month. Provost Skene’s House is one of her best strathspeys.

What was it like being the Chairman of the first Management Board?

It was a very challenging time. There were lots of organisational changes with the new management system – things like the Society Constitution. I was invited to events all over the country, so a lot of time was taken up visiting branch events. Iain and I were always made very welcome. I did enjoy the branches I visited abroad. It was such a time of change, you always felt as if you were running just to stand still! I would have liked to have been able to do more. E-mail and computers were fairly new at the time and I don’t know how I would have coped without them. One of the things I am proud of during my time was when we got Registration from the General Teaching Council for Scotland to run teachers’ development courses. I remember speaking to a previous Chairman and he was surprised that I wrote letters! Different Chairmen make different contributions.

Looking back, were we right to make the branches the basis for the Society?

There are pros and cons in every argument. I really don’t know. I think if we had turned ourselves into a members’ organization (where each member has a vote), it might have fragmented the Society. In the old system every branch had a representative on the Executive Council, albeit a proxy. Moving to a much smaller Management Board, where the members were elected, was a big change. Perhaps branches might have felt they were less involved. It’s difficult for me in Aberdeen to say because under the old and the new systems we have always had somebody involved in one way or another. I think the disadvantage is that branches no longer seem to be directly involved. But the old Executive meetings could have 150 people present. A few people had something to say at every meeting, while many remained silent. And very often the branch representatives never changed; it was the same people year after year.

You have been very involved in the magazine. How important was it when it began?

I think it was very important. It was the time when it was decided that members would no longer receive a book of dances as part of their subscription. Whether they were right or not, members were asking, “What am I getting for my money?” The magazine opened up lots of opportunities to inform the whole membership about the Society, and about country dancing, something they had never had. My concern now is that if the magazine goes digital, people are not going to read it. If I get a large document on-line, unless it is really important, I don’t read it all. What we get on-line is very important, but there is a place for both. And people do get fed up sitting in front of a computer.

Youth Team 1967

Were you surprised when you were asked to become President?

I was totally taken aback. I am only the second non-aristocrat to take on the role. When I was Chairman, I have to admit, it was very useful to have the Earl of Mansfield as President to consult on constitutional matters as he was a lawyer. And, of course, he was an expert when it came to chairing difficult AGMs! He was a lovely person. Sitting up on the platform beside him, some of his private comments were very interesting. And, of course, he was genuinely interested in country dancing and the future of the Society. I think the ideal President should be somebody with a wider public profile than a dancer such as myself. It would be best if it were someone who could use their position to encourage people outside the Society to take up country dancing. It is really up to the Management Board and the AGM to decide what the role of the President should be.

How did Jean Martin of Aberdeen, the dance and the tune, come about?

It was in 2004 when I was teaching at Pinewoods, the summer camp of the Boston Branch, and Muriel Johnstone was leading their musicians’ course. They always have an auction in aid of camp funds. One of Muriel’s tunes was being auctioned, so I thought I would bid for it. I was told in no uncertain terms not to do so! What I didn’t know was that the Pinewoods staff had decided to purchase the tune for me as I was Chairman at the time. Muriel devised the dance and composed the tune.

What are the main changes you have seen in 60 years of country dancing?

I would like fewer dances. I know we have a lot of very gifted devisers, but in the early days when Iain and I used to go to dances, there were no recaps; nobody was fiddling away with cribs; we just got up and danced. In some ways it was much more sociable because the repertoire was much more limited. John Drewry wrote some marvellous dances, but he wrote over 800! We are just swamped with dances nowadays. I remember Iain and I were at a ball down south and there were hardly any dances on the programme that we knew. And poor Iain kept being asked to dance! I’m not sure who suggested a ‘Core Dances’ repertoire but I think that is an idea we should bring back and have it published regularly. I think that would make events more sociable. The idea that no matter where you go in the world you can join in was central to Jean Milligan’s view of the Society. This last year of Covid has united dancers worldwide with the weekly class and Dance Scottish at Home – particularly people who may never have been to Summer or Winter School. It has made all members realise that we really are a worldwide organisation.

What is going to happen when we are all free to travel and dance again?

There will be dancers who will not return, so we really need to think about how we market country dancing, and for all members to see that we need to encourage more people to join us. A few years ago, Aberdeen Branch set up a class in the early afternoon near a primary school. The idea was to involve parents to come to a class before they picked up their children. The class has been highly successful. We also attracted people who worked part-time as well as some early retirees. Of course, we must encourage young people, and get more country dancing taught in more schools. Our priority should be to get more people dancing, and then they will want to join the Society. You don’t need to be a Society member to join in with branch activities. I think the idea of Core Dances would help new dancers become more involved more quickly.

Finally, what are your favourite dances?

It seems such a long time since we danced, I think I have forgotten! I am particularly fond of The Reverend John MacFarlane – because of the tune – and The College Hornpipe. I really like strathspeys – there are so many great dances, but Miss Janet Laing is one I really enjoy.

Miss Milligan's Pupils