Our Christmas lunch gathering is a lovely, relaxing way to end the club year. As someone remarked, Rod keeps us firmly on track on Monday nights, meaning there’s no time between dances for extended chit-chat! So it’s great to have the opportunity to slow down, sit around, and talk to each other.

More than 25 people came along this year, including a few workers who’d managed to arrange their work commitments to enable them to attend, plus club musician Aileen Logie. This is the largest turnout ever, and as tables freed up, we took over the whole front room—in the nicest possible way.

A lot of coffee was drunk and food consumed, accompanied by lively conversation and laughter. Jackie and the team at Café Thyme looked after us wonderfully well, and many of us stayed long enough for a second round of coffee, or just one more little snack …

Relative to all the club’s other events, the club Christmas lunch is an organiser’s dream. Having selected the date, the invite goes out, you make a list, give numbers to the venue, everyone comes full of Christmas spirit and we all have a good time.

There are no decorations, no dance programme or music to organise, no food to order, no money to collect or pay out from the club. And everyone comes when it suits them, and leaves when they need to.

The only thing resembling ‘hall setup’ is arriving early to secure tables. Café Thyme knows we’re coming but doesn’t take bookings, so a few dedicated souls turn up early to claim our tables as other patrons leave. We try not to drive other café-goers away, though we did get a polite request this year to settle in to our seats rather than ‘hovering’ quite so obviously.

Many thanks to Maura Beattie who took over this year’s Christmas lunch organisation, I found it tremendously freeing not to have to worry about anything other than what I would drink and eat (and drink and eat again later).

It was wonderful to spend time in such good company, and it was a very nice surprise to be presented with a card and gluten free food voucher from the club, thanking me for my work over the year as Club President.

Time for a summer break, then on with a new year of club dancing.

Kristin Downey
20 December 2023

All photos by Kristin Downey except where noted

Johnsonville Club ended the year on a high, with eight sets on the floor for our Tartan and Final Night at Khandallah Town Hall on Monday 27 November.

We had an excellent turnout of members, boosted by more than 20 visitors from clubs across the Wellington Region. So nice to have such good support from fellow dancers, and to be surrounded by an irresistible buzz of lively conversation and laughter.

The programme

Our Final Night is a celebration of a whole year of dancing, and Rod takes the opportunity to mix the programme up and challenge us a little, including newer dancers who’ve developed their skills across the year.

The first dance on the programme was Allison Kay, devised by Rod in 2020 for the club’s most long-standing treasurer. It was a fitting start, with Allison finally stepping down from the committee this year after 10 years’ service (nine as treasurer).

Next up was Kingussie Flower, a favourite dance of former Johnsonville tutor Marjorie Crawford. The programme featured other Johnsonville favourites that have stood the test of time: The Braes of Tulliemet, The Machine without Horses, Mr William Brown’s Reel, and The College Hornpipe.

The Duchess Tree also appeared on the programme. It’s a dance which has fallen out of favour in recent years, but was danced wonderfully well following lots of practice at club, and a fantastic set of tunes from the band. Rod commented on how much he enjoyed watching it from the stage.

There were also some less well-known/trickier dances, such as Something in the Air from Book 53, and The Monifieth Star which kept our feet and brains busy, and gave us lots of laughs.

Watch Pat Reesby’s video of The Monifieth Star

Rounding out the programme was local favourite Catch the Wind by Romaine Butterfield, less oft-done traditional dance The White Heather Jig, and an all-time favourite to finish – Mairi’s Wedding.

Special treats

As well as the fun programme, we were treated to a four-piece band. Last year, the planned three-piece band was reduced to Lynne Scott and Cassandra Bahr when Sam Berkahn was sick. This year we welcomed the expanded version, including Sam plus Thomas Nikora, and they played up a storm.

Johnsonville Club members were also treated to free entry, and no need to bring a plate. The club bought in sausage rolls, Indian savouries, seasonal cookies and crackers, chocolate brownie, gluten free berry tarts, and lots of strawberries – some chocolate dipped. Yum for us and our visitors – no matter their dietary restrictions, there was something for everyone.

As one dancer said to me: ‘The music, dances and supper were all superb.’

Whole-hearted thanks – to our tutor (and tutor-in-training)

Rod On final night we look back across a full year of dancing and show our appreciation to our club tutor. For Rod the dancing year begins with our summer ceilidh in January, leading into beginners’ classes in February, club nights through till the end of November, and our annual dance and mid-year ceilidh in between.

Rod is there every Monday unless he’s sick or out of the country. Now being semi-retired, he also ran an extra series of daytime beginners’ classes in March-April this year. It’s a lot of work, but even after 27 years as club tutor he continues to motivate and entertain us with his energy and enthusiasm.

Over the last couple of years Rod has also taken on the role of mentor to Maureen Sullivan as she trains to become a qualified tutor.

Maureen This year Maureen moved from briefing dances, to teaching dances and formations. She also took one of the daytime beginners’ classes, and helped with others, as well as taking two club nights solo when Rod was overseas.

It’s a great support for Rod to know he has an offsider who can take some of the responsibility for club teaching, and step in when needed.

It’s a long and expensive process to become a tutor, involving travel to weekend workshops and paying to attend summer school to sit exams. It’s also a lot of work, and the club benefits from all that training and work Maureen puts in.

We are quite a large and rambunctious (in a good way) club, with a wide range of experience and ability. Both Rod and Maureen cope admirably, bringing good spirit to the job of making sure we are all catered for on the dance floor. Thank you both.

And more thanks to the set-up and pack-up teams, the supper team, secretary and treasurer and wider committee, plus everyone on the dance floor. We need you all, see you in 2024.

Kristin Downey
5 December 2023

Download the programme

A once-in-a lifetime experience

To celebrate the Centenary of the RSCDS over 130 people keen to dance and socialise filled the floor at the Lower North Island RSCDS Centenary Ball at the College Street School Hall in Palmerston North on Saturday 4 November.

Twenty-two dancers from Johnsonville Club were among the crowd, including first year dancers Em, Sapir and Fay, and second year dancers Christine and Janet Thomson.

The RSCDS Hawke’s Bay, Rangitikei and Wellington Regions combined to host this Tri-Region Ball to celebrate the role of the ‘fertile crescent’ from Hawke’s Bay to Whanganui through to Wellington as the well-spring of Scottish Country Dancing in New Zealand.

Morison’s Bush in the Wairarapa was the venue of the first Scottish Country Dance Balls ever held in New Zealand. The Foreword of The Morison’s Bush Collection says “For Country Dancers in the Wellington, Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay area it [Morison’s Bush] was for many years the centre of social life and dances there were not to be missed.”

Stunning floral arrangements prepared by local dancers brightened up the entry to the hall where we were welcomed by Ian and Sue Pearson (Rangitikei Region). Inside the hall, more floral arrangements decorated the front of the stage and bunting provided by Johnsonville and Napier Clubs streamed overhead.

Portraits of the two co-founders of the RSCDS in 1923—Miss Jean Milligan and Mrs Ysobel Stewart—graced the wall behind the band.

A brace of unicorns by the stage attracted attention. How are unicorns connected to Scottish Country Dancing? The unicorn is Scotland’s national animal and represents Scotland in the British Coat of Arms. So the unicorns provided a link to our Scottish heritage.

Dancers from as far afield as Auckland, the Waikato and Invercargill, including RSCDS New Zealand Branch President Linda Glavin from Blenheim and President Elect Debbie Roxburgh from Whanganui, enjoyed the 19 dances on the programme.

Almost all New Zealand devisers who have had dances published by the RSCDS had one dance included in this programme (14 dances). The remaining five were well-known RSCDS dances including homages to Miss Jean Milligan and Mrs Ysobel Stewart.

Twenty-six past and present tutors from the Lower North Island attended the Ball. Seventeen long-standing tutors were honoured by each briefing a dance at the occasion (the dances are noted below next to the briefer). Linda Glavin briefed Petronella. Debbie Roxburgh took on the task of overall MC’ing of the evening, including introducing each tutor.

From left: Melva Waite (The Reverend John MacFarlane), Maureen Robson (New Year Jig), Val Mitchell (Seton’s Ceilidh Band), Catherine Edwards (Balmoral Strathspey), Joy Tracey (The Meeting of the Waters), Chris Kelly (Best Set in the Hall), Catherine McCutcheon (Mildred Clancey’s Strathspey), Ann Oliver, Jeanette Watson (The Reel of the 51st), Ronni Cullen, Debbie Roxburgh (Morison’s Bush), Andrea Wells, Elaine Laidlaw (Gary Morris), Margaret Bailey-Allison (Oriel Strathspey), Philippa Pointon (A Gift from Heaven), Rod Downey (Dancing Spirit and The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh) , Diane Bradshaw (Miss Milligan’s Strathspey), Chris Totton, Elizabeth Ferguson (Mrs Stewart’s Jig), Edith Campbell (Catch the Wind), Michael Laidlaw, Dot Morgan, Elaine Lethbridge, Barbara Gill, Lyn Picone, Isabel Jackson (Pelorus Jack).

It was a wonderful treat to dance to fabulous music from The Balmoral Band during the evening. Iain Mckenzie on the accordion is the Director of Music at the Australian Winter School in Queensland in 2024

Directed by Michael Laidlaw (Wellington Region), the Grand March was piped in by Nicole Trewavas (Rangitikei Region) who was also on the organising committee.

The front row of the Grand March included members of the organising committee—Jeanette Watson (Wellington Region), Mary Hawkes (Rangitikei Region), Michele Miller (Wellington Region), Rangitikei Region President Glenice Saunders, Wellington Region President Rod Downey and Hawke’s Bay Region President Isabel Jackson.

Following the Grand March, the dancing began with dancers filling the floor for New Year Jig.

A highlight of the evening was Wellington Region President Rod Downey presenting a Tribute to Edith Campbell in recognition of the generous giving of her time, teaching, creative and organisational skills to the Wellington Region over decades. Congratulations Edith and thank you for over 60 years of service to Scottish Country Dancing. See the full citation for her award

The delicious spread (including plenty of options for the dietary-restricted) was organised and prepared by Nicole Trewavas and members of the Celtic Spirit Pipe Band as a fundraiser for the band. There was such an abundance of food, we enjoyed a second supper at the end of the evening.

After supper, dancing resumed for the second half of New Zealand devisers’ dances interspersed with old favourites.

This celebratory evening of dancing ended with the energetic The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh in memory of Her Majesty, our immediate past Patron.

Click on the arrows below the gallery to see an image of each of the 14 dances devised by New Zealanders, most of which feature Johnsonville dancers.

As Rod commented at the end of the evening:

It is not often the RSCDS has a Centenary, and I believe this has been a wonderful showcase of all the good things about Scottish Country Dancing. We have also celebrated the rich history of Scottish Country Dancing in New Zealand.

Considerable work is needed to make sure a celebratory occasion like this is a success. Thanks so much to the Tri-Region committee for working together to organise this splendid celebration; the RSCDS New Zealand Branch for a grant to support the night, enabling us to have the wonderful Balmoral Band playing; and Rod Downey and Iain Boyd for preparing extensive notes on the devisers and the dances selected for this evening of dance.

Thanks also to the decorators of the hall including beautiful floral arrangements; all those who helped with the hall-set-up and packing-up; Debbie Roxburgh for MC’ing a somewhat non-standard night of dance; Michael Laidlaw for organising the Grand March; Nicole Trewavas for her piping and providing supper together with members from the Celtic Spirit Pipe Band; the briefers who entered the spirit of the occasion, especially as a number of dances were not well-known; Duncan, Mary and Alastair McDonald for equipment and technical expertise; Pat Reesby for videography; and Loralee Hyde for communications, timelines, posters, website stories and historical research, as well as her photography which provides a great record of this celebration.

And special thanks to all the dancers who supported the night, some coming a long way, but all entering the spirit to make the night a memorable occasion.

See all of Loralee’s large size photos and download if you wish

Watch Pat Reesby’s videos below and listen to the fabulous music from The Balmoral Band:

Morison’s Bush
Miss Milligan’s Strathspey

Mildred Clancey’s Strathspey

Associated articles and photos

Lower North Island RSCDS Centenary Ball: Devisers and their Dances. The stories of the dances on the programme compiled by Iain Boyd and Rod Downey, along with historical photos and videos compiled by Loralee Hyde.

An afternoon of Early Wellington Dances April 2023

Wellington-Hawke’s Bay Association 50th Anniversary Ball 2003

Wellington-Hawke’s Bay Association 40th Jubilee 1993

Loralee Hyde
15 November 2023

The 2023 Sydney Winter School in Kiama was our first big Scottish Country Dancing event. After two lovely days in Sydney, arriving at Kiama was great, quiet and near the sea. We’d booked early so had a cabin overlooking the bay.

There were about 180 dancers, so dinner was noisy, with lots of reunions between dancers, then the first social, which initially was a little overwhelming. The dances were all walked through, but quite a few of us had some nerves. We needn’t have been nervous, as we’ve found at all other events, Scottish Country Dancers’ shared love of dancing and music are a great environment.

Classes started Monday morning. New warm ups, step practice, working through all the detailed elements of formations. The key piece of advice; try not over do things, maybe say no to a social  night dance, or skip afternoon optional classes, try to focus on classes first. Wednesday’s daily newsletter said we’d have ‘Wednesday legs’, where ‘your feet no longer feel like your own’. We did indeed have Wednesday legs, and then Thursday brain too.

Our teachers, Sally Ord (Tasmania) and Hazel Fish (Waimate), were great. Sally focused on the basics, steps, formations and phrasing for the first three days. Then Hazel showed great patience teaching more complex formations for the remainder of the week. Two that we thought were particularly good were the Spiral progression in A Castle in the Air (32R 2C/4L) Video here and the Promenade (Chaperoned) chain progression in The Countess of Dunmore’s Reel (32R 3C/4L) Video here

For those who can’t access the videos on Facebook, enjoy this video of Flowers of Edinburgh (plus party variations) with some dancers still in costume after the Roaring 20s night, for submission to the RSCDS 2023 Virtual Festival

We had two fantastic musicians. Ewan Galloway playing Accordion and James Gastineau-Hills playing fiddle.

Live music all week kept us going and was definitely a highlight of the event. There was live music at evening events like the Roaring 20s theme night and the Saturday Centenary Ball, but there were also party nights with the musicians.

At some point we reached saturation point, you simply can’t absorb any more information and bring this to your dancing at the same time. I (Sarah) woke up one morning having had dreams about Scottish Country Dancing formations!

Saturday night was the grand finale, and it came too soon. The class focused on dances from the evening Centenary ball and it really helped consolidate the last few days. The ball started with a Grand March, something we’d not done before, which is a fun way to setup the initial sets. 

After a week dancing we thought we’d be a bit tired of dancing, but felt the exact opposite. What an awesome week, lots of fun, learning, socialising, and lots and lots of dancing. If you can get to a summer or winter school, do, they are a fabulous experience.

The next Australian winter school is in Gatton, near Brisbane 7-14 July 2024, we would highly recommend it. Here in New Zealand, we’re told there is no excuse not to attend the summer school to be held in Wellington in December 2024.

NOTE: Nice to see the Australian Winter School (and SCD) got lots of good publicity. The local Kiama newspaper, The Bugle,  featured an article on the school. An item also appeared in the RSCDS website blog with a photo including club member Jeanette Watson in the foreground and Catherine a little out of focus in the background.

Catherine and Sarah Epps
9 November 2023

Photos: 46th Australian Winter School Kiama 2023

Johnsonville Club’s Halloween/Samhain celebrations are always a lot of fun, and each year seems to bring more costume creativity as people really get into the spirit of the night. Every year the club also adds a little more to its stock of Halloween decorations, and so the night builds in colour and atmosphere.

Setting the scene

At two previous Halloween celebrations, our black and white skeleton centrepiece has demonstrated a tendency to peel off the wall over the course of the night. However, this year we finally worked out how to attach and suspend it securely. Not very exciting perhaps for others, but a very exciting achievement for me!

We also found a way to display all those scary masks, and the perfect spot for that truly enormous hairy spider. Extra decorations from Elizabeth N and Allison, as well as a couple more club items meant the hall was decorated throughout, giving us the full Halloween experience.

Bringing Halloween to life

Monday night’s dance floor was full of witches, wizards, and devils in their capes, hats, and horns. There were skulls and skeletons, winged bats and lurking spiders of every shape, size, and colour, with or without cobwebs.

It seems the spiders multiply between one Halloween and the next! This year brought spider rings and necklaces, socks and hats, small spiders and large, with the (Queensland-purchased) huge, hairy ‘club spider’ finding a home high on the doorframe.

Amongst all that black-black-black, it was great to have a sprinkling of tartan and pumpkin orange to bring colour to the dance floor. Lovely also to have Harry Potter costumes adding to the mix for the first time.

Hair colouring and face-paint took it to another dimension. Green-haired, pumpkin-faced dancer Anne M, and Hilary our ghoulish musician did a fantastic make-up job, and if you didn’t know who they were, you wouldn’t have recognised them.

Musician Aileen was dressed all in black, and started the night with a witchy hat and a dangling something-or-other. However, it was such a distraction she happily discarded it part way through. She’s not having much luck, at the Johnsonville 2020 Halloween celebration at Johnsonville Bowling Club, strands of hair from Aileen’s green wig ended up stuck in her accordion!

Dancing to theme

The club has favourite Halloween dances which Rod puts on the programme every year—Slytherin’ House (with those tricky snake passes), Ferla Mor with its wonderfully atmospheric music, and Ellwyn’s Fairy Glen for the fun of those clap-clap-claps, which are so easy to forget …

Other dances appear regularly, such as Samhain Magic, The Fairy Dance, and The Scottish Werewolf (devised by club member Denise Sander in the 1970s and named by the Johnsonville children’s class for their class tutor Iain Boyd). The challenge for Rod is to find some new dances every year to bring a bit of variety.

This year Rod chose The Beltane as a new dance for us, to acknowledge that we in the Southern Hemisphere are coming out of winter into summer. (In contrast, Samhain celebrates the end of the harvest in the Northern Hemisphere.) Rounding out the programme was Devil’s Quandary, which we haven’t danced for some years.

Supper surprises

Every year the supper team go all out to bring us wonderfully imaginative Halloween-themed supper treats. We never know what we’ll get, and we look forward to seeing what’s on offer when the supper hutch opens to reveal our Halloween supper surprises.

This year Elizabeth N created amazing orange rice-bubble pumpkins held together with melted marshmallow, and a segmented rattle-snake made of cheerios encased in pastry, complete with a green snake-lolly tongue.

Being a fifth Monday, Liz Hands was on duty, baking ever so many cookies with her new set of cookie cutters in the shape of pumpkins, ghosts, skulls, witch’s hats and bats. A special non-spreading biscuit base kept them in shape, and Liz enhanced each one with coloured icing decorations.

Elizabeth kindly made sure there was something for everyone, supplementing Halloween specialties with decadent choccies and GF/DF savouries, and Anne H supplied chocolate cake. A skull cup held the teaspoons, skeleton hands defended the choccies, and little black rats and a very sweet (if bony) owl enlivened the supper bench.

Thanks

It’s always a bit of a challenge to get Khandallah Town Hall set up and decorated for theme nights, with only 20 minutes from when we can get into the hall till start time. It’s only possible due to the many volunteers who turn up early to help.

Many thanks to all those who came early to set up or stayed late to pack up, to Rod our MC for a great programme and a fun night, and to the supper team for all their creative efforts.

Special thanks to our musicians, the Cranberry Tarts (Aileen and Hilary) who really put their hearts and souls into making it such a special night for us.

One other person deserves special mention, club bard Aline Homes. This is the second year she has shared her bardic reading, entertaining us with her version of the legend of Tam O’Shanter

It was a great night for the 37 members, and past member Pat Reesby, who reliably joins us for Halloween each year. Well done one and all.

Click on the arrows below the gallery to see more happy, smiling faces of our dancers on this fun-filled night. Enjoy Loralee Hyde and Kristin Downey’s photos.

A festive celebration!

The New Dancers’ Celebration is one of the biggest events in the Wellington Region, celebrating those who have taken up Scottish Country Dancing in the past three years. So it proved for this year’s celebration with upwards of 80 dancers including 30 newer dancers taking to the floor on Saturday 7 October in the Wairarapa College Hall in Masterton.

Hosted by Carterton Club with former Wellington Region President Elaine Laidlaw as MC, the evening was full of smiles and laughter as the more experienced dancers helped newer ones enjoy the programme of relatively well-known, easier dances with a scattering of those we may not have encountered as often.

Nineteen Johnsonville dancers, including Wellington Region President and Johnsonville tutor Rod Downey and Johnsonville President Kristin Downey made it over the hill to the celebration, with many staying overnight to save a long journey home late at night. Thanks to Fay and Lizzie who offered most-welcome lifts to others.

We were thrilled five newer Johnsonville dancers joined the throng on the floor—Janet Gootjes, Fay McGregor and Des Collins who began dancing with us this year, and Christine Crewdson and Ian Leask, two of our 2022 beginners. They were ably supported by our more experienced dancers, as you can see in Loralee and Kristin’s photos. Well done everyone!

Dancers came to the event from throughout the Wellington Region. We welcomed others from the Rangitikei and Hawke’s Bay & East Coast Regions. RSCDS New Zealand Branch Vice-President Debbie Roxburgh from Whanganui, and Branch Secretary Joy Dick from Ashhurst were also there to dance and mingle.

Wairarapa College has strong focus on the creative arts, with a high number of students participating in music, drama, dance and visual arts. The hall is therefore well set-up for a large Scottish Country Dancing event such as the New Dancers’ Celebration.

The wide expanse of floor allowed us plenty of room for flowing sets and beautiful covering. An orchestra pit at the top of the hall was thoughtfully roped off with balloons and plants so we didn’t end up going down through the hatches while vigorously setting!

With 2023 being the RSCDS Centenary Year, the programme included three dances with connections to the RSCDS: 12 Coates Crescent, the address of the RSCDS office in Edinburgh; The Jubilee Jig published by the RSCDS in 1973 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee; and Mrs Stewart’s Jig to honour one of the co-founders of the Society.

Coincidentally, Wairarapa College is also celebrating its centenary this year, signified by a large banner to the right of the stage.

A dance of regional significance was the strathspey The Halfway House devised by Elaine Laidlaw. This is a tribute to the Community House in Britannia Street, Petone where the Wellington Region Committee meets—the dance is published in The Wellington 60th Anniversary Collection.

Throughout the evening, we danced to rousing music from Aileen Logie, Jason Morris and Hilary Ferral. Favourite sets of tunes for me were those for Anderson’s Rant, Flowers of Edinburgh, Mrs Stewart’s Jig and for the last dance, the perennial favourite The De’il Amang the Tailors (such fabulous music to dance and clap along to!).

A bounteous supper provided by Carterton Club and the experienced dancers who came along was warmly welcomed by all following the fabulous evening of dancing.

Running an event like this takes much time and organisation. Carterton Club had previously got everything in place for the New Dancers’ Celebration in 2021. Just before the dance, the country went into a Covid lockdown which meant the event was cancelled. Thanks so much to Elaine and Michael Laidlaw along with their club members for taking the time and spending the energy to put on this festive and fun celebration this year.

See more of Loralee’s photos
See more of Kristin’s photos

Loralee Hyde
11 October 2023

A very good way to spend a wet Saturday afternoon

Glendarroch Scottish Country Dance Club celebrated their 60th Anniversary with a dance on 23 September 2023 in the Carlton School Hall, Whanganui. It was held in the afternoon, from 2:00pm to 5:00pm, making it possible to go there and back in a day.

The prominent saltires on the music stands and on the big drum of the Scottish Saltire Band provided a strong Scottish presence from the stage while 60th Anniversary balloons down the sides made sure that the dancers did not forget this was a very special occasion.

Plenty of greenery adorned the front of the stage with the House Points board reminding us that this was a school hall. The school’s display of flags of all nationalities provided additional colour along the walls.

The weather had not been great in the morning but by the time the dance started the rain had really set in. Being in a hall full of great music and enthusiastic dancers was definitely the best place to be.

More than five sets were present, with quite a few Wellington dancers among them, and we took to the floor for an excellent programme of seventeen dances.

We started with the strangely named EH3 7AF, which seems to be becoming quite popular – the title is the postcode of the RSCDS at 12 Coates Crescent in Edinburgh. The first part of the programme finished with that old favourite Scott Meikle.

After ten dances the assembled dancers were more than happy to enjoy the generous afternoon tea, preceded by the cutting of a beautiful 60th Anniversary cake, a welcome chance to rest weary feet and chat with friends old and new.

Then it was on with the programme, with a chance to play at being dolphins in Pelorus Jack and ending up with The Montgomeries’ Rant.

By the time we were done, the rain had slackened off a bit, so dancers didn’t even get too wet on the way home.

Dancers went on to enjoy a celebratory dinner with the Glendarroch Club, to whom many thanks are due for a great afternoon’s dancing and good wishes for many more years to come.

Robert Vale
3 October 2023

Aileen and Lynne’s Big Celebration

A buzz of anticipation filled Khandallah Town Hall as we joined the throng of dancers entering the hall on Saturday 16 September. The cause of the excitement – hearing a massed band of Scottish Country Dancing musicians tuning up on stage, as they prepared for playing for a very special occasion.

Wellington musicians Lynne Scott and Aileen Logie had invited dancers to celebrate their 70th birthdays with them and a number of musician friends at a 70th Birthday Bash! What a great treat!

Musicians who played alongside Lynne and Aileen during the evening included Glenice Saunders (fiddle), Sharlene Penman (piano), Margaret Peace (fiddle), Natalie Scott (fiddle), Jason Morris (accordion/piano), Lynne Hudson (accordion), Hilary Ferral (fiddle), Ian Telfar (percussion) and Iain Matcham (fiddle). Rod Downey and Jeanette Watson Mc’d the evening.

Along with Aileen and Lynne, Rod and Jeanette had prepared a programme of old favourites with a smattering of newer dances.

Two of my absolute favourite dances didn’t disappoint with fabulous music from the band —the strathspey The Braes of Breadalbane and Mr William Brown’s Reel.

Listen to the music for The Braes of Breadalbane in this video by Pat Reesby

Thanks to all those who helped make this a special evening. The hall was decorated with Johnsonville Club bunting, bright red tartan was gathered along the front of the stage topped with red and black ribbon rosettes, and two Scottish Saltires in pride of place at the rear accompanied ‘70’ shaped balloons. All perfect for this festive celebration.

Seven sets took to the floor during the evening with a number of spectators looking on. The well-known The Jubilee Jig and The Kingston Flyer started off the great evening of dancing to toe-tapping music from the assembly of musicians.

Dances specially devised for Lynne and Aileen followed.

Two special dances

Both Aileen and Lynne play regularly in bands for Johnsonville Clubs events. Aileen also plays monthly for the club. Dancers flocked to the floor to enjoy two dances devised by Rod Downey for these two Wellington musicians.

Rod devised the strathspey Aileen Logie in October 2022 as a teaching dance as part of a sequence for the first 16 bars of Ian Simmonds’ The Five Row Reel (which we also danced at the 70th Birthday Bash).

The reel Violynne was devised by Rod in January 2004 as a teaching dance for the beginners class at the RSCDS New Zealand Branch Summer School; he wanted a dance with a poussette and mirror reels.

Watch the dance Violynne in Pat’s video

More fabulous music before supper

Popular dances with much-loved music included The Duke of Atholl’s Reel, City of Belfast (which we did twice) and then the Eightsome just before supper.

Everyone brought a plate for the sumptuous supper, with three tables laden with food. Thanks to Elizabeth Ngan and other Kitchen Faeries who organised the most welcome spread.

More special dances

After replenishing their energy with food and a cup of tea (along with lots of chatting!), dancers were keen to take advantage of the wonderful music again.

Aileen and Hilary often play together as The Cranberry Tarts. To mark this connection, many of the musicians took to the floor to dance another special dance – The Cranberry Tart.

Two other highlights

Five Scottish Country Dance tutors who gained their Teacher’s Certificates in 1998 were at the celebration (the sixth, Philippa Pointon, was unable to attend).

See some of these tutors in a video from the Teacher’s class in 1998 (along with supporting dancers Iain Boyd, Jenny Vaughan, Loralee Hyde and Graham Kerr). Noeline O’Connor was tutor.

Another highlight was the crowd singing Happy Birthday to Lynne and Aileen…as they played the tune to themselves!

Thanks to all

From Lynne:

“It was a very special evening. What touched me the most was how everyone got behind it and took over the elements that would have been much harder to organise ourselves: the programme, the MC’ing, decorations, hall setup/cleanup and especially the Kitchen Faeries.

Thank you all enormously, your help was what make it possible to focus on the music and not the logistics. A huge thank-you, too, to the Johnsonville Club for the lovely card and comments, and your very generous gift.

Favourite moments? Seeing seven sets of friends on the floor ready to go; having my daughter Natalie on stage with me; playing The Five Row Reel, which is a tricky set of tunes but so much fun to play … all great memories that will be there forever.”

From Aileen:

“When Lynne and I discovered we were born only four weeks apart, it seemed like a good idea to come together with our Scottish Country Dancing friends to mark the start of a new decade. Onwards and upwards and all that!

It’s always interesting to me to see what we look like (and sound like) from the floor … and to see the smiles and glee on the faces of dancers. I look up every now and then, but don’t get time to have a good look. I am very aware of the energy of the room however and it loops back to us in the band.

Creating energy and lift in the tunes is a really important, probably the most important role of the musicians—to make music that you just want to dance to! It was good to have the ‘full fat’ sound of a big band. For me, having a second box player made the band much closer to a contemporary Scottish Dance Band sound. The second box player is really crucial in creating that sound and is difficult to achieve here because there aren’t enough accordion players! Jason is working on this admirably and now has a new blingy box with Scottish tuning.

Lots of people were involved in the evening coming together and recording it. A big thankyou to John, Pat, Loralee, the Johnsonville Club who were much involved with the hall set-up and supper organising, especially to Elizabeth and the Kitchen Faerie team and Kristin. Not forgetting Rod and Jeanette, for the wonderful programme and MC’ing the night with their usual aplomb and gaiety.

Most of all to everybody who came along to dance, chat, laugh and eat the wonderful supper and to have fun celebrating with us.”

See more photos of this grand celebration in higher resolution and download if you wish

Loralee Hyde
24 September 2023

Photos: Loralee Hyde except where otherwise noted

The Johnsonville 2023 mid-year Stars or Stripes Ceilidh on Saturday 9 September was a great success, with our maximum ever attendance of 50. Thirty-one club members brought along nineteen family members and friends, to share a very social evening of chat, dining and dancing.

The venue

This is the first time we’ve held our mid-year ceilidh at The Johnsonville Club in Norman Lane, and it turned out to be perfect for us.

We would have struggled to accommodate 50 dancers plus dining tables, at our usual venue of St John’s Church Hall. Fortunately The Johnsonville Club has a separate dining area adjacent to the dance floor, leaving the wooden floor free for dancing – and it’s far more spacious than the usual pocket-handkerchief floors you find at many venues.

The Capital Bistro restaurant on site catered a range of tasty meals, so no-one needed to cook a meal or spend a lot of time in the kitchen prepping or cleaning up. Since the club is licensed, we couldn’t have Allison’s now-famous mulled wine, but those who wished could buy drinks from the bar. All in all, a very relaxing night.

Stars or Stripes theme

Each year the committee chooses a theme for our mid-year social event. We aim to make it easy for dressing and decorating to theme, and also easy for Rod to find dances and music to fit the theme. This year stars or stripes popped into our minds, and it was decided.

The costuming worked out pretty easily, there were lots of stripes, tartans, and plaids in shirts and skirts, and socks, frocks and tights. Stars were harder to find, but Christmas decorations worked a treat, and the more crafty amongst us made their own star-studded attire.

Decorations weren’t too difficult either, especially as the dance floor comes complete with overhead fairy lights. We added star and stripe-themed napkins and paper plates, with streamers, starry and stripey wrapping paper and striped-animal photos adding to the atmosphere. Plus, of course, tartan tablecloths and a saltire striped with the St Andrew’s Cross.

In pride of place were two hanging panels depicting a starry night. They were designed by club member Aline Homes for a winter-themed event so far back in the mists of time, that no-one can quite recall when or what it was! They remain beautiful no matter their age, and set the scene for a special night.

The dances

Dances turned out to be harder to find than we expected. Yes, there were quite a few ‘star’ dances out there, but not necessarily suitable for a ceilidh night with lots of guests.

In the end, dances like Star Trek, Little Star and Will Starr saved the day.

‘Stripes’ were even more challenging, but once we based the search around animals with stripes we came up with Tiger Two Step, Loon Mountain Reel, Raccoon Ramble and The Bumble Bee.

Interpreting Stars or Stripes as Stars and Stripes gave Rod license to choose some American style tunes and US-related dances, such as the New England Heel and Toe Polka and Charlestown Chaser.

We finished the night, as we often do, with club favourite, The De’il Amang the Tailors (Rod noting that the Tasmanian devil also has a stripe or two).

Thanks

Many thanks are owed to many people. As a financial member of The Johnsonville Club Inc, Maureen Sullivan was primary liaison with both the club and the restaurant – room bookings and meal bookings operate independently of each other.

Christine Crewdson and Kristin Downey supported Maureen in finances and the overall organisation, and Loralee Hyde worked in the background developing our poster and the registration form. Allison Kay made the delicious fruit salad, and joined Maureen, Christine and Kristin in meal delivery.

Coming off the back of our recent annual dance, registration was limited to a 10-day window. Club members rose amazingly well to the challenge, with registrations and menu choices arriving from the night the form was sent out and finishing by deadline. Well done all.

We had volunteers a-plenty for set-up and pack-up, and despite not formally organising helpers for serving and clearing up after dinner, it all came together. Very special thanks to Des Collins and Em Griffiths who shared their talents, bringing us ceilidh items to entertain and inspire.

The entertainers

Des read a poem of his own creation titled The Dancing Night Accident. As he says, he likes to ‘take reality and then change it and twist it into a story’ leaving people to ‘interpret it however they like’. After listening to his story, I can only say beware puddles on the dance floor! If you want to know more, talk to Des.

Em followed with a beautiful and moving a capella rendition of Irish folk song She Moved Through the Fair. Em says: ‘It was one of the first songs that I learned and was what I sang for my premiere to the folk community when I was 18.’ It’s always been one of my personal favourites, and it added so much to the night.

Finally, thanks to our MC Rod who spent hours tracking down suitable, fun dances and pairing them with toe-tapping music to give us a great time. While we danced the night away, he was up front and on duty as usual.

Rod’s links to the dances as we danced them:

First – The American Section

New England Heel and Toe Polka (start at 2.35)
Charlestown Chaser (a bit of a cheat, but Charlestown is a suburb of New York)

Next – Stars (plus a tiger)

Star Trek
Little Star
Tiger Two Step
Will Starr

Then – Animals with Stripes

Loon Mountain Reel (Loons have stripes)
Raccoon Ramble (which Rod taught a variation of)
The Bumble Bee (which Rod taught an inadvertent variation of)

Finishing with

The De’il amang the Tailors (the Tasmanian Devil has stripes)

See more photos of our Stars or Stripes Ceilidh

Kristin Downey
21 September 2023

Ceilidh photos: Kristin Downey

Napier Scottish Country Dancing Club celebrated their 70th Anniversary on 26 August—what an amazing record—with a Ball in St Patrick’s School Hall in Napier. It was a fine evening after a beautiful sunny day. You could tell it was going to be a special night when dancers were greeted on arrival with a glass of bubbles.

The spacious hall was decorated with miles of bunting, while Scottish-themed tea towels hung round the walls and a pair of huge saltires behind the stage set the scene. Across the front of the stage there were 70th Anniversary flags to remind us of this special occasion. Many photos and documents from the Club’s past were on display.

The music for dancing came from Wild Heather but the first music was from the Piper who led the Grand March that started the Ball and marked it as a special occasion.

Nearly two sets of dancers had made the trip north from Wellington, there were dancers from other parts of New Zealand and even a pair from Wales. Many older Napier dancers also came to enjoy the spectacle from the sidelines.

A great programme had been chosen for the dance, reflecting the seventy years that Scottish Country Dancing has been enjoyed in Napier.

Watch Pat Reesby’s video of The Starry Eyed Lassie

When teatime arrived to refresh us after our vigorous dancing, we were provided with china plates, and when we went up to the tartan-decorated hatch to get our tea or coffee it was served in delicate cups and saucers.

That all added to the special occasion feel, as did the 70th Anniversary cake and the address from RSCDS New Zealand Branch President, Linda Glavin.

After the second part of the programme ended with that old favourite The Reel of the 51st Division we all gathered in a circle to sing Auld Lang Syne, followed by dancing The Gay Gordons. It had been a memorable night to mark Napier’s Anniversary in style.

Robert Vale
4 September 2023

Photos: Robert Vale