Recent events

Saturday 28^th February 2009: Mei Lin Goh has retired from the theatre – the Operating Theatre, that is, where Mei was a staff nurse. Her pension, while not goodwinesque, supplied a veritable banquet at North Baddesley Village Hall where friends and family gathered to dance to the music of the Bursledon Village Band. The event went so well, the dancers demanded an encore, taking us well beyond the planned finishing time

Monday 23rd February 2009 and again three full sets for our evening (with extras!) at Leigh-on-Sea Caledonian. Tonight's programme consisted of dances written by Ian Barbour, with some challenging selections. It is encouraging to see how our numbers are maintained week after week. We are also encouraged by new members: latest recruits are Colin and Cindy, who are very keen to learn more about the Scottish ways of dancing

Saturday 21^st February 2009: I don’t recall ever seeing so many people in the Hawkwell Village Hall. More than a hundred were there for the Gaddabout’s Barn Dance. Every seat was taken. There were even some younger bodies sat on the counter at the back of the hall. They did not remain seated: with no hesitation, they packed the floor from the first dance until the last – from the Virginia Reel until the Seaside Dance. Many thanks to Rita and Barney for organising this event.

Monday 16^th February 2009 - and again three full sets for our evening (with extras!) at Leigh Caledonian. We welcomed Colin and Cindy, who enjoyed the occasion and declared their intention to return next week and become members. They picked up some of the formations well; I’m sure they will learn quickly and will soon be joining in the more challenging dances before too long.

Saturday 14 Feb 2009 … Valentine’s Day with an emphasis on the love of humanity – a dance to raise funds for the Anvil Trust. Christchurch Hall in Billericay, Essex, is a little smaller than the usual dance venue, but there was no spare space on the floor as everybody was keen to do-si-do etc. Robbie (son of Sibby) controlled the technical side, leaving me free to prance around. The Anvil Trust fund was swelled by a little more than £400. Love.

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Wednesday 11^th February 2009 … Banwood FDC in Surrey: I always enjoy my trip to this club as the standard of dancing is above average. The programme this evening consisted mainly of dances by the American Contra/Square caller Bob Dalsemer – with some slower dances by others (including “Judith’s Waltz” from ‘Nineteen To The Dozen’) as Bob does not seem to have written anything for a gentler tempo.

Monday 9th February 2009 No snow on 9^th Feb, but heavy rain. This did not deter the Leigh caledonian dancers – three full sets for dancing this week. The programme included Ian Barbour’s “Dainty Duncan” which was new to most. It has already proved popular with Archie nominating it as the Member’s Choice for next week

Saturday 31^st January 2009 The long drive to King’s Somborne in Hampshire (250 mile round trip) was rewarded by a great evening to celebrate Pam’s 50^th birthday with the Bursledon Village Band. (Also with Chocolate Cheese-cake!).

Monday 26th January 2009 Well, it was a great evening of dancing for the Leigh Caledonian Dancers Burns’ Night – and a wonderful rendition by Archie addressing the haggis. Musicmakers provided excellent music (as ever) and we were able to add a few extras to the programme, including Dashing White Sergeant for one of our visitors.

Saturday 24^th January 2009 The happy folk from St Margaret’s, Leigh, Essex (and a few visitors) enjoyed a fun evening that began trotting to Bursledon and ended at the Seaside. Many thanks to Maureen for organising the event, and to Tracey for the coffee.

Friday 23^rd January 2009 Burns’ Night Dance at St Anne’s, Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire with the Wide Glide Band. I’ve now learned to ignore the road signs to Godmanchester (following these for a route through the town centre!) and come in through a much shorter route that leads almost immediately to the school.

Monday 19th January 2009: Good numbers again at Leigh Caledonian – it is heartening that we are maintaining a high attendance. Our weekly programmes are a mixture of new and well-known dances, so there is always something for all tastes and standards.

Saturday 17^th January 2009 The annual HF Ramblers Barn Dance with Chicken & Chips (or Fish .. or Sausage .. all with chips). Great atmosphere, and great food (the chips were followed by gateaux). This is always a good event, and it was great to see some visitors from the Grand Ceilidh Club.

Monday 12^th January 2009 Leigh Caledonian Dancers - We had a little difficulty with Iain Nixon’s Reel, mainly because the “half-figure-eight” formation was new to many – even some of our most experienced dancers. The shape of the formation was beginning to fall into place – so I’m confident we’ll be perfect next time we do this Ian Barbour dance.

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Sat 10^th January 2009 … Gill’s birthday party at St Peter’s Church Hall, Thundersley, Essex with Garlic Spread. Everybody came dressed as cowboy or cowgirl; lots of Annie Oakleys and Roy Rogers’ with an occasional Wyatt Earp. And lots of American Reels and Square dances.

Monday 5^th January – low numbers for the first evening of our new programme at Leigh Caledonian, but as the snow fell today and the roads were slippery (and there’s a virus floating about), we were pleased to have two full sets. There were two prominent formations in the dances: set and link for three; and the “muirland willie movement”. We are now nearly all experts on these!

Friday 2^nd January 2009: The theme for the evening at Rayleigh FDC, Essex, was NUMBERS. My favourite number is 119. This is the title from a dance in the “Mysteries” collection, but I cannot explain why. If I did, I’d have to republish the collection under the name “Revelations”.

Wednesday 31^st December 2008: A great way to finish the year, with event 140! The New Year’s Eve ceilidh at Cecil Sharp House with Bursledon Village Band was (according to the feedback) “brilliant”. The atmosphere of excitement kept us maintained for the five-hours of non-stop dancing. I’m not sure how many people came. The tickets were officially sold out several weeks in advance, but extra ones were admitted on the night, so I guess the final total must have been close to 350. The organiser has already been in touch to ask if I can do it again at the end of 2009. Of course I can!

Saturday 20^th November 2008 – I can offer no better summary than to quote the email received the morning after this event: “Just to say thank you so much for making last night such a wonderful evening.....we have had so many compliments on the evening and it will be remembered for a long time to come......further donations have been received the total now making £400 for the Emily Begg Fund and this in itself is enough reward. Look forward to seeing you again at another one of your Barn Dances.....Kind regards...Bill & Rosa”

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Wednesday 17^th December .. another good turnout at the Grand Ceilidh Club for a seasonal selection including shepherd’s pie, turkey and Garlic Spread! We finished (as we always do) with the Circassian Circle: my laptop reckons I’ve called this dance 50 times. Surely there should be an extra nought on the end (although perhaps my laptop knows that – as here at the Grand Ceilidh Club – I often don’t need to “call” the dance at all; it just happens)

Tuesday 16^th December 2008 .. the festive season continues at the Rochford Folk Dance Group. An earlier start than usual – to give extra time for the food (and how tempting it all was). I’ll be there again on 17^th March 2009.

15th December 2008 .. a great evening to finish the Leigh Caledonian programme for the year, with Archie’s choice (Recumbent Stone) and an extra selected by our guests from Basildon (Pelorus Jack). Two winners shared the Dundee Cake in our quiz. Thanks to everybody for the lovely tin of chocolate biscuits (or should that be a tin of lovely chocolate biscuits?) – they will keep me going until our first meeting of the New Year on 5^th January.

Saturday 13 December 2008 Helen & Richard had a very musical wedding reception at Godstone in Surrey. Guests were greeted by singing waiters; a jazz pianist played during the main course; a quartet sang a capella during coffee; the disco provided background music for the cutting of the cake; and then Ring O’ Bells had everybody tapping their feet eager to enjoy a ceilidh. It may have been raining outside, but all was happiness in the White Hart Barn.

Friday 12 December 2008 Katie’s 18^th birthday, celebrated by family and friends at Lexden. Robbie and I were there to provide the music and dancing instructions – not that much instruction was needed, as Katie’s enthusiastic gathering were quick and eager to dance.

Wednesday 10^th December 2008 Grand Ceilidh Club in Southend, Essex – good numbers this evening for a programme with the theme of TIME. We included “Time Piece” from the Club Sandwich collection, and renamed the final dance (the one the club always like at the end of every meeting) the Circadian Circle. I’ll be back at the GCC for a seasonal selection on 17^th.

Mon 8th December 2008 - Leigh Caledonian Dancers: Enough to make up four sets this week - now the target is five! The programme included several challenging dances, including Hugh Foss's "Rob Roy". I was particularly pleased that we managed this (with just a few blips) as I had been "warned off" doing it - too difficult! Ah - but not too difficult for Leigh Caledonian!

Fri 5th December 2008 – a date to remember. I have often driven past the entrance to Dunstan Hall, Norwich, and now I turned into the drive. At the hall itself, I was attended by the members of the Dunstan Hall Ladies’ Golf Club in a celebratory mood. And me the only man, giving them directions on what to do! I had to keep pinching myself to make sure it was not just one of my fantasies!

3^rd December – my first “Christmas programme” of the season – at Purleigh Folk Dance Club in Essex. On a cold night, with frosted windscreens left in the car park, the dancers warmed up with the optional extra in “In Dulci Jubilo”.

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1st December – nearly Christmas already, but at Leigh Caledonian we are still celebrating the birthdays of members. This time, it was for our Treasurer, Shirley. If you think this is an amazing coincidence, then just consider that it is probable (given the total number of members in the club) that there is a birthday to celebrate most weeks. There is that astounding fact of probability (first explained, I believe, by a man named William Feller) that if there are 23 people in the same room, there is a more than even chance that two of them share a birthday. I don’t understand the mathematical proof, but it’s apparently incontrovertible. Perhaps William can calculate the probability of a man being a feller – or a feller being a man?

29/11/08 Members of Select Connections arrived early at Byfleet Village Hall in Surrey for the annual barn dance. This was the first one organised by Rosemary – and how well she did it. I don’t think we could have got any more dancers on the floor. The event is now so popular that Rosemary is planning TWO for next year – dates to be confirmed. On the technical side, Robbie-son-of-sibby - found the new laser mice far better for dexterous handling of sound and light: I’m not so sure this is a good thing as he can now display instant messages on the iBall with ease.

24/11/08 Chocolate at Leigh Caledonian (it’s so good when somebody has a birthday!). We had to sing “Happy Birthday” as the laptop was on strike (I think it is a reaction to last Saturday’s booking!). Fortunately, I had back-up CDs for the dance music – and I managed to fix the laptop later. Don’t ask me how: I just pressed a few buttons to find out what happens and one of them restored the laptop to its working state.

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22/11/08 I had a feeling tonight’s booking would be a disaster. It came through an agent – not a problem in itself as I have had many excellent engagements through agents. But any booking through an agent has a higher chance of being a dud for this simple reason: people who know something about folk dancing usually have contacts with local bands, callers and clubs so will book direct. If people book through an agent, it’s likely they do not have much knowledge of what to do and so may not really like what they get. Add to this the fact that the booking was for a social club that has a regular programme of entertainment (my dance was scheduled between a cabaret singer and a quiz night) so that people come along just because it’s their club, and not to learn new dances, then disaster is a high possibility. And so it was. However, the organisers were generous in their acknowledgement that the fault was with the club’s members, and we finished early with payment in full. On the positive side, it’s one of the highest rates-per-dance I’ve ever earned (as we only did two dances!).

17/11/08 Another week of good attendance figures at Leigh Caledonian – three complete sets – and good dancing, with all the programme completed.

15/11/08 A high turnout at Challock in Kent for the Warehorne FDC Autumn Dance. More chairs had to be set out, including across the front of the stage (so adding to the challenge when I leapt to the dance-floor). It was good to see many friends there from Broadstairs Folk Week. Kelly’s Eye did a great job with the music, and I hope this will not be the first and last time we work together! One tiny moment of pleasure on the drive back to Essex: the proposed increased toll at the Dartford Crossing was deferred until 6am the following morning, and was FREE. Now I have to decide how to spend the £1.50 I saved (to boost the economy).

9/11/08 Off to Cold Norton, Essex, for Les Barclay’s “Sunday Occasionals” – where any caller who wishes can have a go (with the standard aimed at experienced dancers). I had a go at “Wright Enough” from the Festival Fare collection. A few callers had a go at me for my latest ‘Call Centre’ article in EFN – where I advocate that callers should resist reading out instructions from crib sheets but make an effort to use their memories.

8/11/08 An excellent evening at Croydon FDC in Surrey had just a tinge of sadness: the club will be ceasing its activities after the next (Christmas) dance. Rising costs and falling attendances have led to this decision. Fortunately, the band “Footnotes” will be continuing to delight dancers wherever they play.

3/11/08 Leigh-on-Sea Caledonian Dancers Hit Parade evening – the ten most popular dances according to members’ votes – and number one was Ian Barbour’s “Huntsman”. The full list included many challenging dances, a tribute to the standard of the dancers at our club

1/11/08 Leigh-on-Sea HF Ramblers danced the “Bursledon Trot” as outside fireworks boomed. Several new members of the Ramblers were there, and enjoyed the evening so much they have decided to come to the next one, in January.