From around the World
After considerable discussion, it has been decided that, from the next issue, we will return to the system of regional correspondents. Their deadline for submitting material will be mid-January, so they would, no doubt, be pleased to receive your contributions by the start of the new year. The Editorial Board is very grateful to the following correspondents who have agreed to represent their areas: Australia:
Alan McCulloch
alan.mcculloch@netspeed.com.au
Canada East:
Keith Bark
bark@rogers.com
Japan:
Kaoru Oyama
kaoru.oyama@mbe.nifty.com
New Zealand:
Janet Favel
janet.favel@clear.net.nz
North America West: Roberta Gotfried
roberta.gotfried@gmail.com
South Africa:
Heather Hodgson heather.hodgson@uct.ac.za
USA East:
Eilean Yates
edgyates@gmail.com
If anyone in Asia (outside Japan), mainland Europe or South America would like to represent their area, please contact Helen, nellifant@ymail.com. In the meantime, please send reports for these areas directly to her.
UK RSCDS South East Branches 90th Anniversary Ball The SE Branches Coordinating Committee represents eleven RSCDS Branches in the southeast of England. Two years ago they decided to hold a Ball in London to celebrate the 90th Anniversary of the RSCDS. The highly successful Ball was held on 29 June 2013 in the Art Deco Civic Suite of Wandsworth Town Hall, recently refurbished and with welcome air conditioning on that warm June evening. The capacity of the hall was 202 dancers and the Ball was sold out six months in advance, due to superb PR from a member who is a professional. From the South of England, Ian Muir’s Craigellachie Scottish Dance Band with seven musicians gave us rousing music for the evening. The programme consisted of dances from each of the nine decades of the Society, and the four MC’s from different Branches
The Last Dance at SE Branches Ball
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www.rscds.org
gave us super recaps. We were privileged to have among our guests RSCDS Chairman John Wilkinson and his wife Ruby as well as immediate Past Chairman Ruth Beattie. Society members from Edinburgh, The Netherlands, and Norway attended, as well as twelve members of the Paris Branch. We are now looking forward to a ball on the Centenary of our Society in 2023.
Colin Dewar, Sandy Nixon, Gordon Simpson, David Ross, Derek Hamilton, Neil MacMillan, Gus Millar and all the members of Kenny’s Wardlaw band – Stuart Thomson, James Clark, Suzanne Croy and Alex Wilson – agreed to participate in the tribute, and what a ‘tune’ we had! Stuart and Alex organised Kenny’s tune sets for each dance, and we chopped and changed the band personnel throughout the evening with everyone playing the last two sets – a twelve-piece Scottish Country Dance orchestra (see photo above)! I think Kenny would have approved! It is testament to the high regard in which Kenny was held that the hall was bulging at the seams with so many dancers and players, and I hope we can make this event an annual fixture in the Ayrshire Country Dance calendar.
Ian Muir
Jerry Reinstein
Ayr Branch After the sad and unexpected death of Kenny Thomson in the Spring of this year, I decided there should be a night of SCD to celebrate Kenny’s life in music; and no better place to hold it than in the Troon Concert Hall where the Ayr Branch summer season takes place and where Kenny was so popular over many years. On 5 August 2013, a fantastic night of music and dancing was enjoyed by 250 dancers and listening enthusiasts all there to honour Kenny. I was delighted when
Photo by Stephen Webb
Auld Lang Syne at Chiswick House Photo by Stephen Webb
Chiswick Scottish Country Dance Club On the evening of Sunday 30 June, over a hundred dancers took to the grassy lawns at Chiswick House Gardens for the Chiswick SCD Club’s annual ‘Midsummer Magic’ Picnic Dance. London’s top-rated Frank Reid Dance Band provided the music. Club Chairman Nick Haimendorf commented, ‘As the sun begins to set on Chiswick House and the shadows lengthen, there is a truly magical atmosphere. This is always a wonderful event for everyone, and a great end to our dancing season – it’s a beautiful venue and one of the highlights of our dancing year.’
Michael Nolan
