It was wonderful to see so many people on the dance floor at Johnsonville Club’s 2023 St Patrick’s Day celebration. More people always makes for more fun, and that’s what St Patrick’s Day is all about.

Every St Patrick’s Day celebration is full of the hilarity and high spirits associated with those tricky Irish dances. Each year Rod tweaks the programme, finding new ‘easy’ dances for us to do, and every year they bring us challenges to overcome. Well done to our new dancers for taking those challenges in their stride so early in the year, and in their dance career.

2019 – A new club tradition

The tradition of celebrating St Patrick’s Day as the club’s first special dance night of the year, began in 2019 at Johnsonville School hall. St Patrick’s Day 2019 was such a success, that we’ve celebrated every year since then.

I can’t entirely remember who come up with the idea or why, but I suspect it was to give our many new dancers a special experience early in the year. 2019 was a bumper year for beginners. 46 attended beginners’ classes, 21 joined the club, and 19 of them were dancing on St Patrick’s Day.

In honour of this celebration, tutor Rod Downey devised his dance The Coleraine Rant, a nod to both the Irish county and the New Zealand wine. The dance was designed as beginner-friendly, and to include a poussette which Rod had been working on at club.

In total, 57 people were there wearing green and dancing Irish that night, and ten of the 2019 beginners still dance with us today. You’ll see some of them in the photo below of 2019 new dancers.

2020 – Lucky to make it

In 2020, St Patrick’s Day celebrations only just squeaked in before dancing was suspended for three months due to covid.

Despite a new venue, and covid in the wings, 20 beginners joined us for beginners’ classes at Johnsonville Bowling Club, and on St Patrick’s day over four sets of dancers took to the floor for a great celebration.

The Goat Fell Jig was replaced by A Trip to Ireland as a first dance, but City of Belfast, Lady Glasgow and Rory O’More were back to enjoy. Of course St Patrick’s Day was again on the programme, as well as Rod’s dance The Coleraine Rant.

Supper co-ordinator Elizabeth Ngan built her reputation for super St Patrick’s Day suppers on the theme of green, with minted green pea dip and corn chips, Easter eggs and Lindt chocolates in green paper, green apple sherbet fizz and Kiwiberry for the health conscious.

2021 – We move again

Covid delayed the start of club nights at our new venue of Khandallah Town Hall, but 2021 St Patrick’s Day celebrations went ahead as planned, perhaps the luck of the Irish was on our side.

This, our first special night at Khandallah Town Hall, was made even more special with live music from Aileen Logie, and another new dance devised for the occasion. This time Rod was inspired to write a strathspey, The Parting Glass, again devised to suit beginners, and danced to Aileen’s lovely set of tunes including The Parting Glass itself.

Just over five sets of dancers once more enjoyed The Coleraine Rant, along with other favourites The Wild Geese, A Trip to Ireland and of course, The Irish Rover to finish the night. A couple of new dances gave variety – Paddy in the Car and The Orchards of Co. Armagh.

Once again there was a wonderful green-themed supper. Elizabeth’s green eggs, popcorn, chuppa chups and feijoas (the healthy choice), were served alongside freshly-baked green cookies with white chocolate from Liz Hands. Just the thing to give tired minds a boost.

2022 – The covid effect

We were very pleased that 2022 St Patrick’s Day celebrations could actually go ahead, with a fun programme from Rod and lively Irish tunes from Aileen. We had a great time as always, and everyone excelled themselves with every shade of green represented, and accessories adding both glam and fun to the occasion.

But covid really was impacting a lot of people’s lives. Beginner numbers and dancing numbers were down, and only 24 people attended St Patrick’s Day celebrations, including four Johnsonville beginners, and four very welcome visitors.

Lower numbers didn’t dampen our spirits. The music, the dances and the company were good, and there was plenty of green tea, homemade apple cake and green sherbet sweeties for all.

Lots of old favourite Irish themed dances like The Wild Geese were back, and a new addition – Dougal of Shandon.

2023 – A sign of rejuvenation

You’ve only to look at the 2023 photo of dancers ‘wearing the green’ below, and compare it with the 2022 photo above to see the difference. The 2023 turnout of 46 dancers is almost twice the attendance at last year’s St Patrick’s Day Celebration.

We’re still not back to the level of attendance of that original 2019 St Patrick’s Day celebration, but it’s enormously satisfying to have a full hall of dancers once again.

It is also another encouraging sign of a return to pre-covid participation levels – together with increased numbers at beginners’ classes (31 this year, vs 14 last year), and new members (10 so far this year vs 5 last year).

As has become traditional, we danced the two dances Rod devised for previous St Patrick’s Day celebrations – The Coleraine Rant and The Parting Glass, and welcomed club musician Aileen Logie.

This year St Patrick’s Jig and St Patrick’s Strathspey replaced the usual St Patrick’s Day; The Wild Geese and A Trip to Ireland returned; and we finished as always with The Irish Rover – not a dance for the faint-hearted.

Elizabeth Ngan’s green supper offered figs, apple sherbet fizz, Lindt chocolate in green wrappers, green crackers with cheese, grapes, and St Paddy’s Irish sandwiches with corned beef and lots of green lettuce. Janet T added to the sweet treats with green gummies.

Club bard, Aline Homes, made her first St Patrick’s Day appearance. She told us her version of the battle between folklore giants the Irish Finn McCool (Fionn mac Cumhaill) and Scottish Benandonner, and how The Giant’s Causeway came to be. Aline only had time for the first half of the story, we can look forward to the rest at our next St Patrick’s Day celebration.

Kristin Downey
23 March 2023

Photos: Loralee Hyde except where noted

Covid has affected not just our individual lives over the last three years, but also the life of Johnsonville Club. Club nights were cancelled, we had to change venue at times to find somewhere that would allow us to dance, and we were forced to re-locate, re-schedule or cancel any number of club events.

Covid also affected membership, as individuals reacted to the impact of covid on their own lives. And it definitely affected the numbers of beginners coming through the door, and staying on to dance with us.

Despite that, in each of the last three years we have welcomed new dancers as members of our club community. It’s not been an easy time to start any new activity, with all the disruption that Covid has brought. Congratulations to all those who’ve stayed the course.

I had a look back at membership records from the last three years, and between 2020 and 2022 membership dropped from 64 to 58. The 13 new dancers of the Covid years have been instrumental in bolstering club numbers, and keeping the club alive and well.

2020 beginners’ classes were pre-covid, and in the club’s new venue of Johnsonville Bowling Club. Of the 30 people who came along, 10 or so stayed on and enjoyed the club’s 2020 St Patrick’s Day celebration on 16 March. Then came Covid. When dancing resumed in June, only four of our beginners returned. The bowling club four still dance with us today – Gill, Isabelle, Lizzie and Maggie.

2021 beginners’ classes started out well, with two classes at Khandallah Town Hall, but Covid level 2 postponed class number three, and moved class four to Johnsonville Bowling Club. By the time we returned to Khandallah Town Hall for opening night, beginner numbers had dropped from twenty-nine to eight. Just four keen 2021 beginners remain as club dancers – Anne H, David M, Pam and Veronica.

Last year we really didn’t know if anyone would come, and considered cancelling beginners’ classes altogether. In the end Johnsonville was the only club in the Wellington Region who did offer beginners’ classes, attracting 14 people – more than we had anticipated in the circumstances. We were so pleased to have five of those fourteen become club members – Carol, Christine, Ian, Janet T and Verne.

In 2023 we seem to be emerging from a lot of the constraints of the last three years, and this seems to align with revived enthusiasm for Scottish Country Dancing. Thirty beginners have come our way this year, and it was wonderful to see twelve of them dancing with us at our first club night of the year on Monday 6 March. Welcome all.

Kristin Downey
8 March 2023

Photos: Loralee Hyde

Loralee Hyde: My highlights from a wonderful week of fun and friendship!

Plus a mysterious dancing Unicorn…

What is Summer School?

In 2019, Johnsonville Club member Désirée Patterson gave this great account of the Summer Schools she had attended, including what is involved during this week of Scottish Country Dancing; the classes, social activities and evening events as well as the fun that is had.

I hadn’t attended a full RSCDS New Zealand Branch Summer School since Wellington in 2007-2008, where I took part in Noeline O’Connor’s Advanced Low Impact Class.

Since that time, I have occasionally enjoyed 3-4 days at Summer Schools over the Hogmanay to President’s Ball period including Masterton in 2017-2018

The last time I danced at a Summer School was at the Opening Night of the Cambridge Summer School 2019-2020, where I enjoyed catching-up with old friends from around New Zealand and Australia.

At that time, there were reports of a strange virus spreading throughout China…but little did we know that in less than two months from that Summer School, we would experience a three-year hiatus in getting together again due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.

Finally…a RSCDS New Zealand Branch Summer School

Canterbury Region planned New Zealand Branch Summer Schools for 2020-2021 and then for 2021-2022. Sadly, both were cancelled due to the risk of covid.

The Auckland Region took up the gauntlet for Summer School 2022-2023. Would their plans come to fruition? Would dancers from New Zealand and Australia (plus some from the rest of the world) register? Would we finally get-together after three long years?

What a feeling of relief to arrive at The Parnell Hotel in Auckland on 28 December and meet so many happy and excited dancers, ready for a week of Scottish Country Dancing classes, social activities and evening functions.

The dancers were well ready for chatter…and more chatter (often deafening!) as we met up again after so many years; at breakfast, lunch and dinner, on our rides (or walks) to classes, at the afternoon activities and on the buses to the evening dances. And there were plenty of opportunities to make new friends with dancers coming from across the country as well as from Australia, Scotland, USA, Japan and Turkey.

Plus a mysterious Unicorn kept popping up in unexpected places. Adding to the magical world of Scottish Country Dancing perhaps?

Here are some of my personal highlights of this Summer School.

My class: Something different

The classes to choose from at Summer School ranged from Development to High Energy and Technique. Plus a musicians’ course.

An innovation this year was an Excursions Group, designed for non-dancers and those who wanted to save their legs for the evening functions. That option definitely suited me!

We were fortunate to have Katharine Hoskyn as our knowledgeable tour guide and driver, with varied outings throughout Auckland including the Auckland Botanic Gardens, Auckland Art Gallery and Auckland Museum (where the current T-Rex skeletons exhibition proved popular).

Usually we tackled a short walk each morning and invariably had coffee together in a café. What fun! With the added bonus of meeting dancers we hadn’t met before and finding out so much about our biggest city.

The Auckland Botanic Gardens is large, covering 64 hectares (158 acres). I chose to find as many sculptures as possible on my walk.

Musicians and MCs galore

A feature of this Summer School was the great number of different musicians providing toe-tapping music in the evenings, and the range of dancers giving the briefings. Thank you to all!

With Katharine Hoskyn and Neil Horne MCing, the theme of the Opening Night Social on 28 December was Welcome to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Sharlene Penman, Anne-Marie Forsyth, Lynn Pettit and Margaret Peace of Glenfiddle played wonderful rollicking tunes for us to dance to.

The Fantasy Night on 29 December had plenty of magic! For this special evening, the band Thissldhu, usually featuring Clare Simpson and Iain Matcham, turned into Gryffldhu with Iain ‘Hermione’ and Clare ‘Potter’ taking to the stage alongside MCs Philip Oliver and Emma Uren.

Plenty of fantastical costumes were on show: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Elrond and Galadriel, fairies, elves, the Statue of Liberty…and a ‘real’ unicorn that managed to dance the dolphin reels in Pelorus Jack without colliding with other dancers in the set!

Click on the gallery below to take a look at the array of costumes.

Gryffldhu magically morphed into Jimmydhu for the Barn Dance on 30 December, playing country favourites such as Turkey in the Straw to match the theme. MC Elaine Laidlaw entertained us with wonderful stories about the dances during her briefings.

Hogmanay on New Year’s Eve is one of the great Scottish Country Dancing occasions. Find out more about the customs of the evening here

Esther Mackay and Yvonne Gray MC’d this big night while Damon Collin from the Wellington Region led the mighty sing-along of old Scottish songs just before midnight along with his brother Simon and Philip and Helen Oliver.

Aileen Logie and Jason Morris, two Wellingtonians who often play for Johnsonville Club events were joined by Anne-Marie Forsyth in the band. Popular dances (and their tunes) during the evening included Scott Meikle, Catch the Wind and The Montgomeries’ Rant.

Aileen Logie, Jason Morris and Anne-Marie Forsyth played again at the President’s Ball with Debbie Roxburgh as MC. Being a formal evening with drinks with the RSCDS Branch President Linda Glavin to start, followed by a Grand March, the Unicorn shrunk down to a miniature and nestled quietly between the MC’s lectern and the RSCDS Centenary banner all night.

The President’s Ball dances and music that appealed included The Sailor, The White Heather Jig (an oldie that’s not danced often enough these days!) and The Gentleman.

At the Ceilidh MC’d by Sue Crosbie, we were treated to a mix of frolicking dances with toe-tapping music from Sharlene Penman, Lynne Hudson, Lynne Scott and Margaret Peace. Plus entertaining items including singing, dancing, music, comedy, knitting, a ‘trying-on-swimsuits’ story and a skit on possum poisoning!

Glenfiddle together with members from Lynne Scott’s Musicians’ Class (including Lee, Cassandra and Brenda from Wellington) filled the stage on the Closing Night. Their rousing renditions of the music for the programme of dances, briefed by MC Damon Collin, included old favourites Miss Gibson’s Strathspey, Seton’s Ceilidh Band and The Deil Amang the Tailors.

Tired out after a week of dancing, the Unicorn nodded contentedly in time to the music from the castle on the stage.

To finish off a marvellous week, we all took hands and sang Auld Lang Syne, already thinking about meeting old friends and making new ones at the next Summer School in Nelson.

Thanks so much to Liz Hickey and her committee for organising this Summer School in the midst of a pandemic, and to the tutors, musicians, MCs, gophers, drivers, photographers and others who helped make this such a successful get-together.

See all my photos here and feel free to download if you wish.

Loralee Hyde
20 January 2023

All photos by Loralee Hyde except where noted