A good number of Johnsonville members were on the floor to enjoy Tawa’s Annual Dance on the night of Saturday 10 June. The Tawa Club members had made a good job of decorating the Ngaio Town Hall with tartan across the front of the stage, tartan swags hanging along the top with a string of lights above and greenery to top it all off.
Scottish tea towels provided decoration and interest all round the walls, you could look at Scottish castles, find out about Scottish festivals, or learn how to make a clootie dumpling. The whole effect looked very elegant.
The music by Aileen Logie on accordion, Hilary Ferral on violin and Jason Morris on keyboard was very well provided.
Six sets were attracted on to the floor for The Auld Grey Cat, the first dance of the night. There were more than six sets’ worth of people present, with more than two sets from Johnsonville, a great turn-out from our Club. RSCDS New Zealand Branch Vice-President Debbie Roxburgh and husband Paul also attended, visiting from Whanganui.
The first part of the programme roamed the world, from Granville Market in Vancouver, to The Lammermuir Hills of Scotland and to Orpington near London, home of the Orpington Caledonians. It made Links with St Petersburg before ending up at 12 Coates Crescent, the Edinburgh base of the RSCDS.
We danced on the Ngaio Town Hall’s beautiful new floor of recycled ironbark, a very hard Australian timber, finished with a coating based on natural linseed oil.
After ten dances, everyone was ready for a break and a feed. The Tawa Club members provided four tables laden with food, savoury and sweet, with gluten-free options. People had been very busy baking before the dance. Tea and coffee were served as well to keep us going.
The dancing resumed once everyone was recharged. The second part of the programme started with one of the few things not provided for supper, The Cranberry Tart. The night finished around 11:00pm and having done 18 dances—seventeen on the programme and Scott Meikle twice—the dancers went home quite tired and footsore as well as exhilarated.
Watch John Patterson’s video of Scott Meikle
Thank you to Tawa for a grand night.
Robert Vale
24 June 2023
