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NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE AND DISTRICT RSCDS |
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In this issue: (in order of appearance) |
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CORRECTIONS |
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My attention has been drawn to a mistake in Sally Salvesen’s obituary, printed in the last issue of the Newsletter. Although this was written in good faith based on what I had been told at various times, I am now reliably informed that Sally’s working life was spent at the Sun Life Assurance Co., not Northern Rock. Whether I misheard, misunderstood or was misinformed I can only apologise for misleading readers. |
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Irene Waters |
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I also apologise for the errors in the Newsletter of - Doug Lumley’s telephone |
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number which should have read 0191 2869328 and for calling Joyce Hislop Joan |
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(Kenton Group). Carol Sanderson |
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DANCE SCOTTISH WEEK |
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(Your Secretary’s view) |
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It seems ages since I received a letter from Headquarters telling us that they were organising a ‘Dance Scottish Week’ (10th to 14th September 2007) and they would like all branches to do something in their own areas to try to raise the profile of Scottish Dancing. At the Committee meeting which followed we put our thinking caps on and came up with the idea of doing some workshops in schools to enable children (aged approximately 9), who may not otherwise get the opportunity to have a go. |
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A letter was drafted and copies were given to several of our class teachers who had volunteered (or had their arms twisted) to do the teaching in their local |
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areas. Letters were sent to a few schools in Newcastle, Whitley Bay and North |
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Tyneside, Sunderland, Hexham, South Shields and Morpeth. It was not long before the replies started to arrive and I began to wonder how we were going to cope, not only with the number of schools who wanted to take part, but also the vast number of children involved. Most of the schools wanted to take up our offer but they also wanted whole year groups to have a go! This was excellent of course but also rather frightening as some schools had 90 in the year group and had to be divided into three classes. |
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At this stage we didn’t think we had enough teachers who would be available during the day to go into the schools. The whole event needed to be organised fairly quickly, schools had to know by early July, at the very latest, the day and time the sessions would take place in September because it was only the second week of the new term and they needed to plan the timetable before the summer holidays. Time tabling was the biggest headache because most of the schools involved went swimming on certain days or used their halls for other things during the day. |
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Nevertheless, a small band of us, (complete with helpers who had also had their arms twisted) ventured forth (after many sleepless nights and lots of worrying) complete with our CD’s, players, notes etc. We need not have worried, the children were super and really enjoyed dancing. Many of their teachers also enjoyed joining in. I think most of those involved would agree that the week was a huge success. |
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Dance Scottish Week was launched on the 7th September with a Ball at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. At the end of the week there was an informal dance in Glasgow and an exhibition of the life and work of Dr. Jean Milligan. I attended the ball to represent Atlanta (I am one of their delegates), Tim Bolton-Maggs and Pam Scott represented our Branch. Some Scottish Branches also went into schools, some held special dances, ceilidhs etc., but I think our effort was most commendable. |
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Sheila Trafford |
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THE VIEWS OF A “HELPER” |
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Little did I realise that when my sister, Fiona, asked me to bring my dancing shoes with me on my trip to the UK from New Zealand, that I’d be dancing in so many lovely parts of rural Northumberland. I’d imagined that we would be in a big school hall in Hexham teaching dancing to one class of students as my dance teacher had been doing in Christchurch before my departure. The 3 schools that I visited in Haydon Bridge, Beaufront, and Slaley were all very different but in each, the children were delightful-and so enthusiastic. In each school Carol taught 2 different groups of children ranging in age from the reception class to about 10 years old so there was a big range of ability but we just adapted the warm up and dances to suit. All enjoyed the “Flying Scotsman” which in New Zealand we call the “Kingston Flyer” after a famous steam train near Queenstown. At Beaufront school we even managed to dance outside in the playground as the weather was warm and sunny. What a lovely way to start a holiday-dancing outside with happy children, overlooking the stunning scenery of Northumberland. Thank you, Carol for the opportunity to be part of the special dance week. Sheila Nokes |
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FROM THE HEAD TEACHER OF NEWBROUGH FIRST SCHOOL |
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(The only School to write a letter of thanks) |
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“On behalf of the pupils, staff, parents and members of our community may I thank you most sincerely for organising the Scottish Country Dance workshop that we enjoyed last week. |
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Your course tutors Carol and Margaret were an absolute delight to work with, they were enthusiastic, interesting and made a huge impact on all our children. Their expertise and tuition were of an outstanding quality and most of all the children thoroughly enjoyed the activities that we took part in. |
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I was particularly keen to see that the activities were geared towards both genders and especially interested and keen that boys develop aspects of dance, balance and sequencing as it has a real impact on other sporting opportunities which they may encounter. |
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We would be delighted to take part in future initiatives that your society may have and if we can be of any support to our local branch in the future we would be delighted to take part. Thank you once again. |
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Yours sincerely, John Moore, Headteacher” |
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I personally thoroughly enjoyed working with the schools in and around Hexham and would like to thank Sheila Trafford as do the other teachers/helpers for her individual letters of thanks. Let us hope that these sessions gave the children a taste for Scottish Country Dancing! |
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From feedback at the Society AGM I am almost certain that Dance Scottish Week will become a yearly event. Carol Sanderson |
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BRANCH PUBLICATIONS |
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SIMPLY DANCING - A book of graded dances for and by young people. |
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Priced £3.50. Available from John Cass or the Shop. |
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Our thanks must go to John for the idea and to all those who have helped in any way with this publication, especially those who have contributed dances. |
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COME SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING WITH ANDREW RANKINE AND HIS BAND - The original tape has now been re-issued as a CD. Includes music for Jennifer’s Jig, Sugar Candie, General Stuart’s Reel to name a few. As well as being a useful source of music for dancing it is great for listening to. Priced at £10.00. Available from the Shop. |
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MUSIC FOR THE BOOK OF LADIES STEP DANCES - Devised by Irene Fidler Played by Muriel Johnstone. Available from Chris Hiller or the Shop on CD and cassette. Both priced at £7.00. |
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OCTOBER DANCE |
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Apart from the Scottish Dance Week which saw the dancing season off to a flying start, the first dance of the season was held at Wallsend Memorial Hall, dancing to Gary Donaldson. 98 attended. A tartan bucket was available for members to give a donation in memory of Sally Salvesen to the Alzheimer’s Society and the opportunity to dance “Smiling Sally” written by Peter Avery in memory of Sally. |
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The bucket will continue to be available for donations until after the January dance. Donations can be sent by post to the Secretary or Treasurer. Thank you to those of you who have already given a donation. |
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Copies of the instructions for the dance ‘Smiling Sally’ with music are available from the Shop or from Peter Avery priced £1. Carol Sanderson |
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NOVEMBER SAW FIVE DELEGATES FROM THE BRANCH ATTENDING THE 78th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY IN PERTH |
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A brief précis of the main items of business of the meeting from John Cass is included as well as the views of Christine Belcher attending her first Annual General Meeting. |
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Our congratulations and best wishes go to Helen Frame from Ayr (a teacher at our Day School in 2006) and to Fiona Turnbull from Richmond (an adjudicator at our Festival in 2006 and the Medal Test Assessor this year for the children) in being awarded Scrolls of Honour. |
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Lord Mansfield presided together with Chairman Irene Bennett and Chairman Elect Alex Gray. |
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Accounts - Lawrence Boyd, Finance Director launched into a strong attack on the Management Board whose “lack of governance” he severely criticised. He reported internal fighting and weakness in the Boardroom and said Headquarters staff were victims of the Trustees. The new magazine cost £35,000 to produce and the current loss for 2006/07 was in the region of £120,000 and at the current rate the Society would be insolvent in less than 4 years. A loss of approximately £10 per member had occurred. Membership had dropped by 346. |
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Lawrence Boyd proposed that the Annual Membership Subscription be raised to £15 |
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YOUTH CO-ORDINATORS FORUM |
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Ø Youth workshops including Spring Fling |
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The young people were very enthusiastic regarding Spring Fling and the Youth |
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The Festival Interceltique is a very big festival held every year in Lorient. Each year they have a different country as ‘Nation of Honour’, and this year was Scotland’s turn. The Youth Team, with myself and John McCann from Newcastle Branch, were there for three days. The first evening we performed the dance ‘A Trip to Lorient’ written especially for the festival by Ian Brockbank. The other two days, we had an hour and a half slot with a combination of demonstrations and participant ceilidh dances. |
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The idea was to introduce people to Scottish Country Dancing. |
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