Tawa Club celebrated its 60th Anniversary on 15 September with a very successful dance in the Johnsonville Community Centre.

Over a hundred people attended the dance, of which at least ten or eleven sets actually danced. Some former members, who no longer dance, had been invited to join the festivities, and they enjoyed catching up with old friends, watching the dancing and listening to the music.

Several Johnsonville Club members – Pat, Maureen S, Hilary, Robert, Bob, John P and Désirée – are also members of the Tawa Club, so it’s not surprising there is a friendly cooperation between the two clubs. Other Johnsonville members who attended on the night included Rod and Kristin, Debra S, Elizabeth N, John H, Mandy, Moira B, Nancy, and Prisilla.

The lively music provided by Peter Elmes, Aileen Logie, Don McKay, and Hilary Ferral (who is also a dancing member of both Tawa and Johnsonville Clubs) kept toes tapping and people flocking onto the dance floor.

It says a lot about the quality of the programme and the music that by the end of the night, there were still eight sets of dancers going strong.

The programme consisted of well-known and mostly easy dances. Tawa tutor Maureen Robson had selected two or three of the most popular dances from each of the club’s six decades.One new dance was Diamond Jig, which Maureen had devised specially for this 60th ‘Diamond’ Anniversary, and for which Peter Elmes had composed a special tune.

An 80-bar jig in a square set, it was well received, and danced twice. The instructions for the Diamond Jig and a video made by Tawa members had been circulated several weeks before the event, so there were no glitches in the dancing.

Dancing was interrupted a few times for the handing out of spot prizes, and shortly before supper, former presidents and former teachers were invited to come to the front to be acknowledged. Jan Bruce, and Duncan McDonald were the only presidents there.

And as Maureen Robson has been club tutor for the last 35 years, there was just one former teacher – Romaine Butterfield. But the club has been fortunate to have been taught by five other Wellington teachers during Maureen’s annual visits to the UK: Barbara Kent and Philippa Pointon (both former Johnsonville club members and tutors), Andrea Wells, Elizabeth Ferguson and Diane Bradshaw.

An excellent and plentiful supper – which included not only a great variety of finger foods and birthday cake, but also the traditional cooling fruit salad, jelly and cream – was served by Jan and her band of helpers.

Special mention must be made of the two Johns – John Gregory, who provided all the brilliant decorations, and John Patterson, who was the roving photographer for the evening. See John’s photos here

By the end of the dance, everyone agreed that it had been a fantastic evening. Guests, dancers, workers and tidy-uppers all went home thoroughly satisfied.

From Désirée Patterson, September 2018