2018 Articles

Rod Downey awarded Rutherford Medal
Success for Summer on the Neckar
Visit to Karori Brownies
Winter dancing at Johnsonville
Johnsonville – Island Bay Joint Annual Dance 2018
50th Anniversary Ball: A photographer’s view
Downey Day of Dance: York 2018
Autumn dancing at Johnsonville
Rod Downey: Karlsruhe Midsummer Ball
Recruitment and retention of new dancers
Advertising Scottish Country Dancing on Facebook
A busy start to the new year
Mandy Clark: My year as a new dancer

Rod Downey awarded Rutherford Medal

Rod Downey and his wife Kristin are long time Wellington Clan Donald members. This year Rod was awarded the Rutherford Medal for his “Pre-eminent revolutionary research into compatibility, including the development of the theory of parametrised complexity and the algorithmic study of randomness.”

See more about Rod’s award in the Clan Donald December newsletter

In August, the Canberra Scottish Country Dance Club in Australia ran a competition inviting people to submit a dance they had devised. The results were announced in November and several Wellington devisors did very well.

Maureen Robson was the winner with Busy B devised for her granddaughter Brianna who is training to be a nurse. We congratulate our tutor Rod Downey for making the short list of eight with his dance Summer on the Neckar. Click here for more about the dance and download instructions

Karori Brownie leader Hannah likes to “open the Brownies eyes to different or new opportunities”. When she spotted one of Johnsonville’s posters advertising Scottish Country Dancing beginners’ classes, she asked if we could help with one of this year’s badges.

See more about our club sharing some knowledge (and fun) with the Brownies

Winter at Johnsonville

The winter calendar had a few differences this year at Johnsonville with tutor Rod Downey overseas for work from mid-May to the end of July.

Find out more about our winter dancing here

Johnsonville and Island Bay embarked on a voyage of discovery at the end of 2017, when we decided to join forces to run an annual dance together in 2018.

Find out why we are so glad we did in this post

50th Anniversary Ball: A photographer’s view

Wild and wet Wellington weather did nothing to dim the excitement of 100 dancers from across the country who attended the RSCDS New Zealand Branch 50th Anniversary Ball at Government House on 20 August.

Loralee Hyde had offered to take photos of the evening for the Branch. See her view of this event through a photographer’s eyes

Johnsonville Club tutor Rod Downey visited the UK again this year and taught a day school on 1 July for the RSCDS York and North Humberside Branch.

See more about the day here

With a long summer and a surprise early start to winter this year, Johnsonville dancers have been keeping on their toes. With four to five sets on the floor at club nights, there have been plenty of experienced dancers to help our new members enjoy dancing.

Click here for more about our autumn dancing

While in Germany, Rod took advantage of the summer dance season to attend the Karlsruhe Ball on Saturday 9 June.

See more about the dance and musicians plus photos here

 

 

As part of this year’s Dance Scottish initiative, RSCDS New Zealand Branch offered clubs a $150 donation to assist in attracting new dancers. Johnsonville Club was happy to take up this offer, and used this donation towards the costs of advertising a series of four beginners’ classes run across the month of February 2018.

Find out more about not just how we attract beginners, but also how we retain them, and what we need to do ongoing in this post or download a PDF of the article

For some years now, Johnsonville Club has successfully promoted the Club’s February Beginners’ classes through a wide variety of media channels. This year, one innovation we trialled (along with free community radio notices and electronic noticeboards) was a Facebook ad costing $50, which was subsidised by the RSCDS New Zealand Branch’s ‘Dance Scottish’ initiative.

Find out more about factors we considered when advertising on Facebook, the process and the results Johnsonville Club achieved in this post or by downloading the article in PDF format

 Johnsonville’s dancing year started with our summer ceilidh at Johnsonville bowling club on Saturday 27 January. Over 30 dancers, family members and friends came together for bowling, dancing, ceilidh items and a potluck dinner.

See more about the start of dancing this year

Download this article from the Independent Herald on 17 January 2018 about Club Member Mandy Clark’s first year of dancing at Johnsonville Scottish Country Dance Club.

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