RSCDS BRISTOL Secretary’s Report 2006/07

The season 2006-7 has been another successful one for the Bristol Branch.

Membership of our branch is thriving. During the 2006-7 season RSCDS Bristol had 80 Annual Members, 8 Bristol members and 8 Life Members. The branch has supported a weekly class throughout the season with an average of 5-6 sets dancing every week.

The branch applied this year to the Jean Milligan Fund for a bursary for one of our members to attend Summer School. On this occasion the bursary was not awarded but in the event she was happily able to attend along with several other members, all of whom thoroughly enjoyed the experience. A number also attended the RSCDS Winter School in Pitlochry. If any members are thinking of applying for places or for a Scholarship for the coming year now is the time to get on with it.

In 2006-7 we have also continued to participate in the running of the RSCDS Nationally through the involvement of Rhona Chalmers. She currently holds a management position on the Membership Services Committee at Edinburgh HQ.
Bristol members also made a valuable contribution to the society’s AGM in Aberdeen where Bristol Branch in the form of a sub committee of Peter Wright, Andrew Smith and Fiona Grant planned and organised a Member’s forum. This had such good feedback that it will be on the agenda, and organised once again by Bristol, this year. The late and sadly missed Lesley Terry was also an important member of the planning group.

The Branch Class continued this year to be held at Badminton School Gym. This was a successful venue, which had a good floor for dancing and provided a very pleasant environment. Changes, however, in the schools parking arrangements for visitors, resulted in members having to park off site. It was felt that this made the venue less than ideal and an alternative was sought. 2007-8 classes will therefore be held at St Monica’s, which is already used regularly for our dances.
The Committee would like to thank the members for their input, patience and support in finding yet another new location. We feel confident that this is a very positive move.

The Branch continued this season in running one weekly class, which incorporated a ‘Breakout Group’ session part way through the evening, which taught beginners steps and formations. The group rejoined the main class for the second half of the evening. This format tries to address and balance the requirements of all the membership.
The main class was and continues to be taught be Peter Wright and the Breakout Group by Barbara De Winton and thanks to their concerted efforts this format is proving to be successful. Our thanks go to Peter and Barbara for their commitment, hard work and enjoyable teaching.

This season we have also run a separate practice group, which meets less frequently, with a view to developing a pool of competent and enthusiastic dancers who can be called upon for demonstration dances. Barbara de Winton leads this group. They have already been booked to dance at a Burn’s Supper in 2008. A small additional group practices Long Sword dancing.

The usual events were held over the year, starting with the New Season Dance in October where the music of George Meikle and the Lothian Band was enjoyed by an enthusiastic number of dancers.

The Day School in November, taught by Janet Johnston from Edinburgh, was a great success. Janet put us through our paces during the Scottish Country Dance class on the Saturday morning, and then stretched us even further in the afternoon class. Janet was accompanied throughout the day by the music of Peter Shand on the piano. Janet and Peters’ enthusiastic and relaxed style made all the dancers feel at ease and have fun while inspired to dance well. A number of dancers returned to attend a relaxed and fun evening dance to the music of Hugh Ferguson and the Dalriada Band.

The Burns Supper & Dance in January was another sell-out event, attended by members and partners. Marcus welcomed the guests of honour to the evening and Joan led us all in ceiledh and SC dances to the wonderful music of Hugh Ferguson and the Dalriada Band. The evening was a great success and enjoyed by all who attended. The committee would like to thank the sub-committee and all those who contributed to the success of the evening.

The Newcomers Dance in early February, once again attracted a good number of dancers from all over the region. Unfortunately, a last minute strike by British Airways left Ian Muir and his band stranded in Prestwick. Peter Wright came to the rescue by rustling up a combination led by Ian Robertson that gave us a great evening of music we thoroughly enjoyed. It was particularly pleasing to welcome many new dancers to this event and friends from far and wide.

In March the members of the branch once again enjoyed a greatl weekend at Haytor, Dartmoor, with dance instruction from Peter and music from Hugh and members of the Dalriada Band. Stuart, as ceilidh organiser, put together a wonderful ceilidh evening with a variety of performances which brought to light a number of hidden talents. The acts ranged from Four Girls Bright and Beautiful led by Joan, which showed Keith is as good in high heels as he is in gillies!, to the amazing all singing all dancing Japanese Bag Pipes. Our thanks go to Mike Innes for all the hard work that he put into co-ordinating Haytor and making it such a relaxing and much enjoyed branch event.
 
Our Summer Dance in May this year was a Sapphire Anniversary Ball celebrating 45 years of the Branch. Held at Clifton High School, we had a wonderful evening dancing to the music of Ceol na H’Alba, that was made even more memorable by the attendance of RSCDS Chairman Irene Bennett. She presented a Branch Award to Peter Wright for his contribution to Scottish Country Dancing. The occasion was also marked by a beautiful cake made by Patsy Patterson and which Peter was invited to cut. A photograph can be seen in our summer newsletter.

As a Branch we endeavour to keep our members informed about events and matters of interest to us all, by means of our web site, notice board and three times yearly newsletter. The Committee would like to thank anyone who has contributed to these over the year and also encourage anyone interested in reporting on Branch or wider RSCDS concerns for our newsletter, to come forward and do so.
The committee has continued to try and work alongside Westbury Scottish Club, other RSCDS branches, and other Scottish Dance clubs to offer as many opportunities for people to dance as possible. This is an important part of our remit.

There are three members of the Committee retiring from their posts this year: Andrew who has been in charge of Tickets, Clive as Membership Secretary and Jose who is the outgoing Treasurer. I would like to thank all of them for their hard work on behalf of the Branch. Finally I would like to welcome the new members of the Committee who will be taking over from them.

Thank you.


Ruth Illston
Secretary – RSCDS Bristol