From around the World
United Kingdom Cornwall Branch Celebrates 25 years The idea to form a branch in Cornwall was agreed on the long train journey from Edinburgh to Truro in 1990 following Polly Barton’s success in attaining her full certificate that year at Summer School. It meant that Cornwall now had two teachers Polly and Sheila Harvey-George – a prerequisite for forming a Branch at that time. To celebrate our 25th anniversary the Cornwall Branch invited past and present dancers to attend the AGM and social dance held in June. Several members of the original committee: Polly Barton, Sheila Harvey-George and Mary Miller attended and congratulatory messages were received from founder members unable to attend the celebration. Cornwall Branch has awarded three Branch awards since 2008 and we were delighted that two of the recipients, Sheila Harvey-George (2008) and Brian Stock (2010) were present to participate in our celebration. Our current chairman Val Dawson and first chairman Mary Miller cut the celebration cake.
Our regular correspondents and occasional reporters keep us up to date with SCD activities everywhere. We like to hear from all corners of the SCD world, so please send your reports to the correspondent for your area (email addresses below). If your area does not have a correspondent, you can write directly to Jean Martin at jean.m.martin@googlemail.com, and perhaps volunteer to become one of our correspondent team. Ruby Red as the theme and 130 dancers and musicians celebrated the ‘Ruby’ event at Cromwell College, University of Queensland. Visitors from six overseas countries joined the fun, and five different classes allowed for differing skills and competencies, with Mervyn Short (UK), Tim Wilson (USA), David Williamson (New Zealand), Christine Freeman (Victoria, Australia) and Elspeth Lacey (New South Wales, Australia) as teachers. Each class had a musician - Iain Mckenzie, Sharlene Penman, Anne-Marie Forsyth, Lynne Scott, Bruce Mitchell and Emma Nixon – and Ian Aitken to wake us in the morning with the bagpipes and lead us into the Ball. The theme for the Ball was “40 Shades of Red” and dancers rose to the occasion with reds of many a hue. Dances at the Ball included the very recently published The Ruby Rant, written for the occasion by Francis Walduck, and Brisbane River Reel, by the late David Le Brocque, first performed in the same hall 14 years before.
Rosalind McLaughlin, Membership Secretary
Manchester Branch The Manchester Branch is the second oldest branch outwith Scotland and this year celebrated its 80th Anniversary. The highlight of the year was an Anniversary Dance held in Eccles Town Hall in May. A good crowd of people attended which included some of the life members of the branch and dancers from neighbouring branches. The programme consisted of well-known dances and two “home-grown” dances, Val’s Juniper Strathspey, devised by Branch Chairman Helen Freer and Grey Cairns of Camster, devised by Branch Secretary Rob Kinnon-Brettle. The music was excellently provided by Luke Brady & his band and added to the great atmosphere.
Australia Correspondent Sandra Bell gasbell@bigpond.com Queensland Branch hosted Australia’s 40th Winter School from 5-10 July with
The devisor dancing The Ruby Rant at the Winter School Ball
2015 has been busy for Melbourne & District Branch members with visiting dancers from the USA in April; a Beginners Course with a follow-up course planned later in the year; and a very popular Bring a Child day in June, attracting a large number of all ages who participated in ceilidh and country dancing. In July, Mervyn Short, taught a variety of dances to a large enthusiastic class. Renowned Scottish dance musicians David South and Matthew Robertson celebrated twenty years of playing together at a mid-year social organized by the Box Hill
Group and a weekend school was held in September at Amberley with teachers Anne Kennedy (Sydney) and Elaine Arthur (Canberra.) In February Adelaide Branch members danced at the Mount Barker Highland Games with the temperature over 30! A well-attended Day School for less experienced dancers was held in March with experienced dancers coming along after lunch to boost numbers. Branch members have travelled far and wide with six attending the International Branch weekend in Denmark and five enjoying the Winter School in Brisbane. Sydney Branch opened the dancing year in February with a Day of Dance and a “Know Your Dance” social was held in May with NO walk-throughs! To their credit the dancers had done their homework and this led to a great night and plenty of laughter. A teaching course, held in conjunction with Hunter Valley Branch, culminated with the examinations at the end of June. During their visits, Noeline O’Connor (NZ), Elinor Vandegrift (USA) and Tim Wilson (USA) each taught classes for the Branch. What luck for Sydney dancers to experience three teachers of such calibre! Canberra and District Branch dancers participated in a display of Scottish country dancing at Canberra’s National Multicultural Festival in February, and an outstanding display of dances from Iain Boyd’s Lord of the Rings Collection at the National Folk Festival at Easter. A workshop for beginners at the Folk Festival attracted an enthusiastic group of around 100 dancers. Canberra also contributed two sets of dancers to the massed display of SCD at the annual ‘Bundanoon is Brigadoon’ Highland Gathering. A successful Unit Zero course in March 2015 was held by Hunter Valley Branch, with five people learning the basics of teaching dancing. The Branch is delighted to report that Jan McCudden has become a fully fledged teacher. A Day of Dance in May, focused on dances devised by Iain Boyd from New Zealand with teachers Anne Kennedy, Belinda
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