Former Johnsonville Club member Jean Denne passed away on 9 April 2024 at the age of 83.
She was a club member from 2004-2015, joining the same year as Prisilla and a year after Elizabeth Ngan.
Jean, Prisilla and Elizabeth preparing supper at the 2014 Johnsonville Annual Dance. Photo: John Patterson
Jean was a keen dancer, enjoying tartan nights, annual dances, summer ceilidhs and mid-winter dinners.
John, Pat, Rod, Prisilla, Jean and Désirée dancing at the 2013 Johnsonville Annual DanceJean enjoying dancing on the deck with Allison at Johnsonville’s first Summer Ceilidh in 2014 Photo: Pat ReesbyJean and Sono at Johnsonville’s Bright Mid-Winter Night in 2016. Photo Loralee HydeJoan, Jean, Sono and Janet enjoying dinner at the Bright Mid-Winter Night in 2016. Photo Loralee HydeJean in the front row fourth from the right with the Johnsonville contingent at the 2015 Wellington Region New Dancers’ Celebration. Photo: Loralee Hyde
Jean also gave a great deal to the club, serving as a committee member, and on the supper team for many years alongside both Elizabeth and Prisilla.
Jean and Elizabeth at the 2013 Wellington Region Hogmanay. Photo: Pat Reesby
Jean could always be relied upon to do whatever was needed that others might not think to do (like cleaning the bathrooms in preparation for the annual dance).
Jean helping to prepare supper at the 2015 Johnsonville Annual Dance. Photo: John Patterson
We have missed her smiling face and willing work at club in the years since she stopped dancing.
Jean was farewelled by family in a private service.
I was saddened to learn of Bronwyn Maysmor’s death on 19 January 2024 at the age of 77 years. Following my move to Lower Hutt from Hamilton in 1983, I joined Lower Hutt Scottish Country Dance Club where I met Bronwyn who lived in Eastbourne at that time. She quickly involved me in social activities with other club members.
My abiding memory of Bronwyn is her love of colour—in gardens, her clothes and her dancing shoes (usually a shade of blue or mauve).
1990: Bronwyn (note her purply-blue shoes!), Carol and Elizabeth at the Wellington Easter Weekend School at Newlands College
Bronwyn (together with Ian) took part in many Scottish Country Dancing events in the Wellington Region including Balls, Hogmanays and New Dancers’ Celebrations. Often, she dressed in fabulous costumes to fit the theme of the event.
Like Bronwyn, I love colour, including shades of blue and purple. I enjoyed visiting various gardens with her to admire the colourful flowers in bloom.
1984: Loralee with Bronwyn on a tour of Eastbourne gardens
Bronwyn contributed many articles to Harbour City Happenings about activities at her club and produced a Tribute (with Charlotte Williams) to Norman Whitson, a long-term tutor at Eastbourne Club, and one to Betty Redfearn.
017: Charlotte, Bronwyn and Ian with Norm Whitson at Eastbourne’s 60th Anniversary Photo: Harbour City Happenings March 2017
Three events I enjoyed with Bronwyn stand out in my memory.
The first was a trip to Morison’s Bush in the Wairarapa in 1992 for the weekend of the Martinborough Fair with a number of dancers including Bronwyn and Ian, Elizabeth and Malcolm Ferguson, Iain Boyd, Noeline O’Connor, Kath Burn, Betty Redfearn, Val Jenness, Margaret Hepworth and Beth Duncan.
We appreciated Morison’s Bush for the history of Scottish Country Dancing in New Zealand—for many years, the area was the centre of social life and dances for dancers in Wellington, Wairarapa, and Hawke’s Bay. Morison’s Bush was also the site of the first Scottish Country Dance Ball in New Zealand.
We stayed in a beautiful old homestead at Morison’s Bush near the Ruamāhanga River with the evenings chatting. laughing and barbecuing dinner.
1992: The group of dancers at the old homestead at Morison’s Bush1992: Peter and Bronwyn barbecuing dinner
Early on the Saturday morning we set off for the Martinborough Fair to make sure we got a nearby park. Activities back at the homestead in the afternoon included volleyball, board games or walking along the river.
1992: Bronwyn, Loralee and Val at Ruamāhanga River near Morison’s Bush
I had the opportunity to see Bronwyn’s superb organisation skills in action when I was on the committee for the Wellington Region Event in 1993, with Bronwyn as organiser.
The Region decided to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the New Zealand Branch in 1993 with a dinner and ceilidh (called the Top Event) in February before the dancing season started.
Alan Burn, the Region President at the time, suggested honouring Wellington Region teachers at the event for their dedicated work. The Region sponsored teachers to attend; although clubs did have the opportunity to sponsor their own tutor if they wished.
Advertisement for the 1993 Top Event from Harbour City Happenings September 1992
The event committee asked those attending to wear a hat of any description to the Top Event held on 27 February 1993 at the James Cabaret (now closed) in Wellington. The evening started with a happy half hour of socialising, mixing and talking about each other’s hats.
1993: Bronwyn wearing her colourful fruit and flower-laden hat welcoming all to the Region Top EventDancing at the 1993 Top Event to music from Peter Elmes, John Smith and Merren Simmonds
We welcomed 26 Wellington tutors to the event. The photo below is a great historical record of Scottish Country Dancing in the Region at that time. The teachers in the photo are:
Back row: Iain Boyd, Margaret Laidlaw, Romaine Butterfield, Rita Brennan, Margaret Allison (Bailey), Edith Campbell, Hilda Brodie (Smith), Kath Burn, Maureen Robson, Damon Collin, Dave Macfarlane, Mirth Smallwood, Barbara Gill, Elizabeth Ferguson, Val Jenness, Gary Morris, Marie Malcolm, Alma Secker, Glenys Mills, Noeline O’Connor, Ian Simmonds, Raynor Stratford.
Front row: Betty Redfearn, Norm Whitson, Carol Smith, Annette Zuppicich
Wellington Region Tutors at the1993 Wellington Region Top Event
The third event I well remember is Bronwyn and Ian’s wedding in February 1994 at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt, followed by a ‘dessert party’. We were each asked to bring a dessert—a simple and enjoyable way of celebrating. There were plenty of ‘oohs and ahhs’ from people as they chose from the wide array of desserts on offer.
1994: Bronwyn and Ian’s wedding at the Dowse Museum. Fiddler John Smith is standing behind the wedding party.
I have enjoyed looking through my albums to find photos of Bronwyn and Ian at events from 1990 onwards. (Prior to that, the quality of my camera wasn’t good enough to take photos of actual dancing).
The last photograph I have of Bronwyn was at the 2019 Wellington Region Hogmanay at Crofton Downs Primary School hall organised by Johnsonville Club.
2019: Wellington Region Hogmanay with Bronwyn at the centre right dancing The Highland Fair – wearing her mauve dancing shoes!
A few months later, the pandemic hit. Sadly, I didn’t have the chance to catch up with Bronwyn again. I will miss seeing her dance in her beautiful mauve shoes.
Wellingtonian Deborah Shuker has been a Scottish Country Dancer for 13 years. Known as a ‘team sport’, the centuries-old dance form is widely spread around the country with close to 90 clubs, starting at Kerikeri and finishing at Invercargill.
Twenty-six years ago, Deborah was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Eleven years later she had a heart attack, and it was then that she knew she needed to find a fun way to exercise regularly.
Deborah didn’t want to join a gym as she saw that as a solo endeavour and knew she wouldn’t stick to it. She tried ballroom too but found it wasn’t her cup of tea either.
‘It’s perfect for me. It’s promoted as fun, fitness, and friendly, and it is all of that. It exercises your body and exercises your mind. And you don’t have to come with a partner. And it’s ridiculously cheap!’
Deborah with fellow Johnsonville Club Members Prisilla, Malcolm and Sono, at the club’s 50 Golden Years Celebration in 2016
Scottish Country Dancing is a fun, social activity, usually done in groups of eight. A tutor gives out instructions at the beginning, the music starts, and you all follow the sequences which inevitably become easier as you gain experience. There are different levels of difficulty, and you can choose to join in or sit out and watch.
At the club’s Annual Dance, Deborah says there are always a couple of dances for the most experienced. That is when she enjoys sitting back and watching the mastery. ‘They’re beautiful to watch and live music gives a great atmosphere.’
To an outsider it looks like a very bouncy dance and there might be concern about one’s joints. Deborah says it is bouncy but there are all ages (the eldest is in their 80s) coming to the classes, dances, and balls.
Neither injury nor age need be a barrier. ‘I can bounce, but I can’t always get to the right places. Other people get to the right places, but they can’t bounce.’
Deborah enjoying The Australian Ladies, a reel for more experienced dancers, at the 2020 Musicians’ Tea Dance in Lower Hutt
Deborah loves the social aspect of Scottish Country Dancing. There is a regular newsletter that keeps everyone in touch with each other and with nine clubs just in the Wellington area alone, you could choose to dance most nights of the week.
Deborah dancing Lonely Sunday at the 2016 Wellington Region New Dancers’ Celebration, an annual event held in October each year to welcome new dancers into the Scottish Country Dancing community. Longer standing dancers from across the RSCDS Wellington region attend to support their new members at this special occasion, with live music.
How has dance helped Deborah’s diabetes? ‘It’s exercise and there’s no reason to stop doing it. I think you could always do Scottish Country Dancing to some degree or another. It accommodates your body.’
Deborah dancing Fugal Fergus at Johnsonville’s July Tartan Night in 2019, an evening with live music and dancers from other clubs coming along to join in. Deborah is wearing one of Life Member Isla Norris’s kilts.
It’s also good for your mental health due to both the community and the way your memory is exercised.
‘In some pieces there are 48 bars of music, and you have to remember what you’re meant to be doing in those 48 bars. You need to remember where you’re dancing, where you need to be, who you’re dancing with, and what’s going to happen next. It’s a lot of memory stuff but it’s not necessarily Einstein material.’
Here, Deborah is taking part in the annual Johnsonville Halloween/Samhain celebration in 2023. A night of full of fun dancing to spooky, supernatural music from the accordionist and fiddler in the band!
Scottish Country dancers are part of a wide-ranging community—from dancers in clubs like Johnsonville to regions across New Zealand to around the world. Wherever we go, we are welcome!
This article was written by Rowena Fry about the benefits of dance for those with (and without) diabetes and how the social activity of Scottish Country Dancing can help both physical and mental health.
