Musicians in profile at Johnsonville (2020)

Despite so many interruptions to our dancing this year with Covid-19 restrictions, Johnsonville Club was fortunate to have lots of live music to raise our spirits

Our cancelled tartan night in April became a Live Music at Home event on 13 July, with Aileen Logie, Hilary Ferral and Jason Morris up front at this year’s new club venue of Johnsonville Bowling Club. It was a great night, with a great buzz.

Jason, Aileen and Hilary played at our ‘Live Music at Home’ night on 13 July Photo: John Patterson

Since then, Aileen has become a regular player at club night every few weeks, adding that extra touch of excitement. It’s really nice to get to know a musician in a club setting, and for Rod as tutor to develop that relationship. Plus we get the bonus of Aileen dancing with us in the second half of the night.

In July, Lynne Scott got in touch to say she had a Monday night free and could bring musicians our way. So on Monday 3 August, Lynne, Mary McDonald and Heather Elder gave us another fun night of fine music. Lynne came back with Mary and Ann Goodbehere to play for our club night on 14 September.

All this music got me to thinking about how lucky we are to have so many musicians giving up their time for the love of Scottish music and Scottish Country Dancing.

With not a lot of dancing events to feature in our club newsletter, I asked these musicians if they could write something about their musical journeys and how they came to play for Scottish Country Dancing. Each one of these musical ‘bios’ tells a fascinating story, and they are all posted here on our website as part of our musical history.

Sadly, because of Covid-19 Level 2 restrictions, we had to cancel our Annual Dance on 19 September, with music planned from Lynne, Sharlene Penman and Richard Hardie.

We hope to add more stories to the club’s website over time to acknowledge the part musicians play in our community.

from Kristin Downey

Originally published in the RSCDS Wellington Region Harbour City Happenings Volume 23 No. 3, September 2020

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