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The Provincial Executive Committee

Through the 1950s, the Provincial ExecutiveCommittee (to which each group sent threerepresentatives, paying a fee of 10c per member)still tried to ensure that the standard forms of thedances were followed. Its first object was “Topreserve and further the practice of traditionalScottish Country dances in accordance with theofficial instructions issued by the RSCDS withwhich this body shall be affiliated.” In theCommittee’s minutes of 28 April 1958 a strongstatement of policy appears as a “Motion re thecorrect form of the Scottish Country Dance to befollowed on all occasions, with special referenceto the Eightsome Reel.” Mrs. Bingham’s influencewas still strong, with discipline more importantthan enjoyment.

BE IT RESOLVED that on every occasion onwhich the Branches meet to learn and practiseScottish Country dancing or to enjoy socialgatherings together, the Branch presidents withtheir executive officers or/and MC’s will beresponsible for seeing that all dances on theprogramme are being danced according to thedance pattern instructions in the RSCDS books,and that if there is any attempt by any of thedancers, be they members or visitors, todeliberately introduce any alteration or additionto the recognized dance pattern in whatever setthey may be dancing, the said president, executiveofficers, or/and MC’s will immediately take stepsto prevent the further continuance of such actionin the dance.

Birlers beware! One hopes that harmonyprevailed.

The second object of the Provincial group alsoshows the influence of Mrs. Bingham: “Topromote and encourage the formation of groupsthroughout BC, such groups to be affiliated withthis Society.” The Minutes of 23 February 1963include discussion of how best the PEC could helpgroups throughout the province “by sendingteachers, by helping them with advice, music,books, etc. There was wholehearted agreementthat the Provincial should go all out to further SCDin the province.” It was decided to send a teacherto any group which requested such help, the PEC

covering two-thirds of the cost. Kamloops,Kelowna, Prince George, and Chilliwack acceptedthe offer. Subsequently, the Vancouver Branchcontinued this policy when it created the StewartSmith award to support new or small groupsanywhere in the province. Perhaps because of theProvincial group’s encouragement, a new clubwas formed in Kitimat in October 1956.

When the White Rock group was formed in 1954,the Provincial group chartered a bus to takemembers to the inaugural dance. The “splendidturnout” of Vancouver members was mentioned inthe 3 November 1954 minutes.

Clearly, Mrs. Bingham was the driving forcebehind the Provincial group as she had beenbehind the initial Vancouver group. The AGMminutes for May 1955 mention that “Mrs. T.Bingham has been most energetic and enthusiasticin arranging and supporting the activities of thecentral body.” Member groups in 1955–56included Lady Aberdeen, Vancouver Mixed,North Vancouver, West Vancouver, NewWestminster, Prince Charles (associated withMary Isdale MacNab), and White Rock; aUniversity Branch is also mentioned.

Annual Ball

The main local function of the Provincial groupseems to have been sponsoring an annual ball,usually in late October. The balls may have beensporadic at first, since one is recorded at the HotelGeorgia on 12 April 1940, and the “10th annualball” was held in 1954. From 1954 (when thesurviving Provincial minutes begin) balls wereheld every year until 1964 when the newly formedVancouver Branch took over their sponsorship.The locations read like a litany of once gloriousVancouver institutions: the Hotel Georgia, theAstor Hotel, Oscar’s, and the Coach House.

The prices for the balls – $2 reluctantly increasedto $2.25 in 1954 – are another temptation tonostalgia. The Ball Fund was kept separate fromthe General Fund, and many balls ran up aworrisome deficit. Music for the early balls wasprovided by Mrs. Stuart, Mrs. Bingham’s regularpianist, augmented by a violinist and drummer.

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When Murray Black of Powell River offered hisband in 1963, the Committee decided that the feeof $86 was more than they could afford, “eventhough the players themselves would probablyprovide quite an attraction.” Also applying to playwas the “Vancouver Scottish Orchestra” withpiano, accordion, violin, and drums. They werewilling to have Mrs. Stuart play with them, andthey got the job: the first time an established band,rather than a group of individual musicians, playedfor the ball.

Ball tickets and programs of the 1950s

Ball programs did not change much during the1950s. A relatively small repertoire of countrydances predominates: Circassian Circle, theEightsome Reel, Waltz Country Dance, Reel of the51st Division, and Glasgow Highlanders are on allfour surviving programs from the 1950s. The onlydances of modern composition are Reel of the 51stand The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh withtheir patriotic overtones, and Mary IsdaleMacNab’s St Andrew’s Nicht, which a member ofMrs. Bingham’s committee had asked her to teach.

Although the Provincial Executive wished onlydances published by the SCDS to be danced attheir regular meetings, their ball programsincluded quadrilles, St. Bernard’s Waltz, Lancers,Gay Gordons, Pride of Erin Waltz, and a dancecalled Canadian Seaforths Twostep. This mayhave been an attempt to attract more people,particularly important as the balls tended to losemoney. A newspaper announcement of the 1957ball reads, “The program will include Scottishdances like the Eightsome and the Ninesome,quadrilles and lancers, strathspeys, two-steps, andwaltzes.”

Quadrilles, old-time dances, and waltzes began todisappear from the programs in the early 60s andhad quite gone by 1967. By that time, of course,the annual ball was sponsored by the newVancouver Branch. On the other hand, GlasgowHighlanders was on every available program until1968. The Eightsome Reel persisted similarly until1969, and was probably a ritual component as apiper often played for it. Apparently energyabounded and no talkthroughs were needed, asprograms consisted of at least 20 dances.

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Annual Camps and Workshops

As well as the annual ball, the ProvincialExecutive ran another, more casual event, onewhich opened up the Vancouver SCD scene toinfluences from other parts of North America. In1959, Mary Isdale MacNab, Hugh Thurston, andAndrew Shawyer attended a dance weekorganized by the Boston Branch of the RSCDS atPinewoods Camp in Massachusetts. In its forestsetting, Pinewoods had been running since 1919and offered leadership training for Girl Scouts aswell as English country dance weeks run by theNational Country Dance and Song Society.Jeannie Carmichael, founder of the Boston Branchof the RSCDS, began the annual SCD PinewoodsCamp in 1952. After their trip to Boston, MacNab,Thurston, and Shawyer resolved that Vancouvershould have a similar weekend of concentratedinstruction.

The result was the camp held at Camp Alexandra,Crescent Beach, from September 9 to 11, 1960.This was the first such event held on the Pacificcoast. Forty dancers from White Rock andVancouver attended three days of classes inScottish country dancing, Mrs. MacNab’s setdances, men’s Highland, women’s solo, and“miscellaneous international” – the dancers ofthose days certainly had stamina! The SurreyLeader published a photo of four dancers posed todance the Foursome Reel on grass almost longenough to hide their ghillies.

Foursome Reel with June Gow, RodgerShoolbraid, Charlie Elliott, and Una Bain

Alistair Ross wrote, “Whether Edinburgh wouldhave approved of the ‘finish and technique’

achieved in the outdoor sessions is somewhatdoubtful, but everyone had a wonderful time. I canstill remember Bob [Simpson] attempting high-cuts in a dance on the grass, and sinking lower andlower into the subsoil with every step he took!” Amere $10 per person covered tuition, meals, andaccommodation, and the teachers included HughThurston, Mary Isdale MacNab, Mary Shoolbraid,and Mrs. Bingham. The informal atmosphere iscaptured in the photo below of an outdoor hula.

Outdoors at Crescent Beach, 1960:L to R Harvey Barnes, Joyce Simpson, two

Seattle dancers, Hugh Thurston, Bob Simpson,Murray Shoolbraid

Stewart Smith of San Francisco taught at the 1963camp and clearly became a favourite instructor inVancouver, as he was invited to return severaltimes. In the early 1960s, the current spate of newdances had barely begun to flow, and the campserved to introduce these new dances toVancouver. A handwritten letter from StewartSmith to Mary Shoolbraid outlines his plans toteach Hooper’s Jig, Angus MacLeod, GarryStrathspey, and White Heather Jig – all popular inSan Francisco – and The Thistle for February 1966mentions that Rest and Be Thankful has been afavourite in almost every group since StewartSmith taught it at the 1965 camp.

The second and later camps were held on theVictoria Day long weekend in May. They were sosuccessful (100 attended in 1962) that largerquarters were soon needed, and the 1964 campwas the first of many to be held on the UBCcampus. The Thistle for October 1964 reports:

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The 1964 camp provided the usual opportunity forhard work and the rewards that go with it.Technique was polished and new dances werelearnt, and gaiety abounded. Though there was aslight lack of intimacy compared to the earliersmaller camps at Crescent Beach, the move toUBC was well worth while in view of the largernumbers now attending. The Band [Murray Blackand the Teuchters of Powell River] was a greatsuccess at the Saturday evening dance, for whichBrock Hall provided a magnificent setting.

Three dancers of the early 60s: L to R: AllanMason, Rodger Shoolbraid , and Denys Lloyd

Photo courtesy of Allan Mason

Chairing the Camp Committee for several UBCweekends of the later 1960s was Simon Scott.Simon writes, “I cannot remember life withoutScottish country dancing.” He grew up in Englandin a dancing family and first danced on his parents’lawn at the age of five. After immigrating toCanada with his family, Simon began dancing inVancouver in 1961. He quickly went on to take histeaching certificate, and has since taught at sometwo hundred workshops locally andinternationally as well as teaching regularly for theGleneagles Club and for the Branch. Simon’searly memories remain strong, and he speaks ofStewart Smith as his “greatest inspiration.”

Night School Classes and the Betwixt andBetween

The first Vancouver group to be subdivided intodifferent levels was the Night School classes.These were an offshoot of Mrs. Bingham’sVancouver group. According to The Thistle ofNovember 1962, they came about through anexpulsion:

One evening, when the Vancouver group weredancing in their regular hall, the hall committeewere dining downstairs; and the noise of thedancing so alarmed them that they cancelled thedancers’ lease. Someone suggested a schoolgymnasium. To use this, however, the dancers hadto form an official class under the School Board.Not everyone liked this. Those who didn’tmanaged after a while to find a hall and re-formtheir group. Those who did formed the nucleus ofthe “night-school classes” which now meet threetimes a week, with Mrs. Bingham teaching. Theyprovide much of the formal teaching inVancouver, and are the only group to be dividedinto three levels: beginner, intermediate, andadvanced.

These classes met on Monday, Wednesday, andThursday at Fairview School on Broadway andGranville, with parties in the King Edward HighSchool gymnasium. True to Mrs. Bingham’shumanitarian interests, the proceeds of one annualparty were sent to the Save the Children Fund.

Fairview SchoolCourtesy of Vancouver Public Library Archives

A name that first appears in association with MrsBingham’s night school classes is that of MaryShoolbraid, who had immigrated to Vancouver

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with her brothers Rodger and Murray in the late1950s. Mary provided a direct link with thedancing master tradition in Scotland, as twogenerations of her family had taught dancing inFife. She was later to play a key role in theformation of the Vancouver Branch. Alistair Rosswrote of her, “As assistant to Mrs. Bingham, Maryoffered inspiration to all.” A meeting at Mary’shome in November 1959 led to the formation of asocial club to function behind the Night SchoolClasses, the “Vancouver Night School ScottishCountry Dancers.”

Mary Shoolbraid (L) with Denys Lloyd, PaulineBarnes, and Tommy Craig

Control of this group clearly belonged to Mrs.Bingham:

As teacher of the Night School classes and theinaugurator of the club, also because formation ofthe club is principally to make easier the socialaspect of the classes, she felt that governingcontrol of the club should be in her hands. Thiswas agreed to by all present and will be furtherclarified in the Constitution (Minutes of 8December 1959).

As was typical of Mrs. Bingham, the group took aserious approach, proposing regular meetings atwhich “we could perhaps see films, havediscussions, and generally learn all we could aboutthe background of Scottish country dancing”

(Minutes of 24 November 1959). A bulletin oflocal SCD events was also suggested, but did notmaterialize until Hugh Thurston began to publishThe Thistle in 1961.

The night school group flourished, with 92members in 1960. It was the third dance group forwhich Mrs. Bingham served as president,following the original Vancouver group in 1930–31 and the Provincial Executive in 1954–57. MaryShoolbraid served as Secretary for the nightschool club and later for the Vancouver Branch.

Mrs. Bingham in later life

The night school group began an annual eventwhich continues more than fifty years later, theBetwixt and Between dance. “It was thought thatif we could arrange for a party for class membersand friends to take place between Christmas andNew Year, this would be good publicity” (Minutesof 24 November 1959). The inaugural Twixt andTween Party, as it was first called, was held onTuesday 29 December 1959 at the JewishCommunity Centre.

The early Betwixt and Betweens, as Pam Jeacockeremembered them much later, were relativelyintimate affairs:

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[The original B and B] was a party given by Mrs.Thomas Bingham for the dancers attending hernight school SCD classes. We each received apersonal Christmas greeting card from Mrs.Bingham with an invitation to attend the party. Itwas very much a “family” affair which was ofcourse easier in those days when there were fewerdancers. After the Vancouver Branch was formedin 1964, the Branch took over sponsorship of theB and B. It continued to be a real Christmas andNew Year party rather than just a dance: therewere games, charades, skits, carol singing etc.interspersed with the dancing; a Christmas tree;fun prizes of the 5 and 10 cent variety rather thanthe expensive bottles of today, and much fun washad by all. (Letter to Branch Committee, 1970s)

By the early 1960s, Mary Shoolbraid had takenover the teaching of the “Vancouver Branch” fromMrs. Bingham. By this time, the group wasmeeting at the Dunbar Community Centre, but itstill followed the pattern established in the early1930s. Meetings on the first and third Saturdays ofthe month were preceded by half an hour of stepand formation practice for newcomers. Mrs. EricStuart continued to play piano for the group.

Hugh Thurston and the West Point Grey Club

When Hugh Thurston arrived in Vancouver in1958 to teach mathematics at UBC, Mrs. Binghamwas cautious. On 28 April, “Mrs Bingham askedthe [provincial] Society to take note of MrThurston’s arrival and thought a welcoming dancewould be a wise procedure.” As she may haverealized, Hugh Thurston took a very differentapproach to traditional dance from her own, onewhich was analytic and questioned authority.

As a very young Englishman during World War II– obviously a mathematical whiz kid – Thurstonhad worked as a cryptographer at Bletchley Park,deciphering the messages of the Italian navy andlater the Japanese armed forces. His friendshipwith Hugh Foss (leader of the team working onJapanese naval codes) must have dated from thattime, and Foss likely sparked his interest inScottish dancing with its complex patterns.

Hugh Thurston took his PhD at Trinity College,Cambridge. While there, he likely joined theCambridge Reel Club, and he would have metfellow Cambridge mathematician and dancehistorian Tom Flett. While still in his early 30s,Thurston amassed a huge amount of informationon the historical background of the dances, and in1954 he published Scotland’s Dances, the firstbook on the subject by a modern researcher. Thisbook is meticulous in its detail, and covers thewhole gamut of Scottish dancing, from reels,Highland dances, and Hebridean dances tocountry dances.

Once he arrived in Vancouver, Hugh Thurston lostno time in founding the West Point Grey ScottishCountry Dance Club. He befriended Mary IsdaleMacNab and taught her dances with enthusiasm.His classes took place in an old army hut on theUBC campus, at first once a week and later twiceas his following grew. He taught according to hisconception of traditional style. In his favouriteDuke of Perth, for example, he taught an arm holdwhich he called the “elbow cup” grip. He did notlike “artificially contrived exhibitions” of countrydancing, preferring to see country dancing “as it isnormally and naturally done” (The Thistle 24).The club was close-knit and friendly: after theFriday class, everyone went to the home of amember for tea, and listened to Hugh talk aboutthe dances and their history.

Glasgow Highlanders at Folkfest 1963 outsideQueen Elizabeth Theatre (L to R Dorothy Ross,Alistair Ross, Hugh Thurston, Nina Thurston)

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In 1961 Hugh Thurston began issuing his ownremarkable dance magazine, The Thistle: AMagazine of Scottish Country Dancing and AlliedSubjects. Its first issue began with two sentencestypical of Hugh’s understated style: “We havedecided to issue a magazine. This is it.”

The Thistle was the first SCD newsletter inVancouver However, it was more than anewsletter. It published new dances and historicalstudies of traditional dances. It exploredsimilarities and differences between Scottishdancing and other dance traditions. It answeredreaders’ questions on all matters connected withdancing. It gave advice on dance technique. Itcontained puzzles and quizzes to intrigue itsreaders (Thurston was ever the playfulcryptographer) and also poems by Hugh Foss.

While the original articles were not signed, almostall (perhaps even some of the “readers’questions”!) were pretty obviously written byThurston himself. Above all, the 55 issues of TheThistle show Thurston’s erudition and the breadthof his interests. He writes with authority not onlyon SCD, but on Serbian, Bulgarian, Scandinavian,Portuguese, and Irish dancing, and on NewEngland contra dancing. Other articles show hisdetailed knowledge of music.

Thurston’s attitude towards the RSCDS wascomplex. He combined great personal respect forMiss Milligan with a critical perspective towardsthe work of the RSCDS in reconstructing olddances. Various Thistle articles pointed out

misinterpretations by the RSCDS editors, oftenshowing the reader the difference between thedance as originally written and the dance asarbitrarily re-written by the RSCDS.

Yet when Miss Milligan visited Vancouver in1963, Hugh and Nina were eager to host her.Marianne Taylor of Boston remembered a storyoriginally told by Stewart Smith:

Miss Milligan and Stewart Smith are flying toVancouver, where she intends to give Dr.Thurston a piece of her mind about his recentlypublished comments on the RSCDS researchtechniques and their way of figuring out Scottishdances. They get to Vancouver; Hugh meets them;his wife Nina gives them a lovely meal and thenHugh and Miss M. go into his study, while Stewartsits outside, chewing his nails and listening forsounds of conflict. After about an hour, Hugh andMiss M. emerge, all smiles, and Miss M. trumpets,"Dr. Thurston and I have agreed to disagree!"Hugh was such a marvellous, intelligent charmerthat he charmed even her! And he was most likelyright, as usual.

After her stay, Miss Milligan showed nothing butappreciation for the kindness of the Thurstons.

Hugh Thurston and his wife Nina (they married in1962) taught at SCD workshops in Vancouver,Calgary, Kamloops, and Prince George. Theywere also active in the international folk dancecommunity, and eventually they left SCD for folkdancing. Many years later, Dub Fortenberry ofSeattle remembered Hugh Thurston’s teaching at

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folk dance workshops: “I was amazed at what heknew about Swedish dancing. He knew the rhythmof every country in Europe. When he wasteaching, for example in Bellingham, he calledthem off like you’d say 2 + 2.”

Doldrums of the Early 60s

In the early 60s, many SCD groups in Vancouverseem to have struggled. The Provincial Executiveminutes of November 1960 reported that severalsocieties were in financial straits through reducedmembership and the lack of halls at reasonablerent. The West Vancouver group had ceased toexist by 1960. The Provincial group did its best tohelp; its President Nellie Forbes (later NellieMcKenzie) wrote to the North Vancouver group,“The Provincial Group have felt for a long timethat they have done nothing to support the variousSCD Societies in and around Vancouver, whohave always supported the Provincial Ball sowell.” While the Provincial Executive agreed tosponsor a dance both for the North Vancouver andthe New Westminster groups, the offer seems tohave come too late. The North Vancouver dancersreplied that they did not feel they could organize adance, since they now numbered only nine.

The Provincial Executive’s own balls were alsorunning at a deficit in the late 1950s, and fund-raising parties were held to recoup losses. Incontrast to the eight member groups listed in 1955,the July 1961 report for the RSCDS Bulletinmentions only four affiliated groups inVancouver: Point Grey, Night School VancouverBranch, Lady Aberdeen, and Prince Charles. Afteronly 70 attended the 1961 Ball and it too ran adeficit, the committee wondered whether the ballshould be continued, also (reasonably) whetherthe deficit had resulted from the ball being held ona Thursday. However, the 1962 ball in lateNovember at the Georgia did better.

In February 1963, Provincial President DenysLloyd “commented on the need for improvingmembership of local groups – it was not a questionof starting new groups, but of putting new life intothe groups already in existence and attracting newmembers” (Minutes of Provincial ExecutiveCommittee).

Children’s Festivals

Also at the February 1963 meeting, as a way toattract more young people to SCD, MaryShoolbraid suggested that the ProvincialExecutive should sponsor a festival for youngpeople. Mary was immediately appointed chair ofthe Festival Committee, and Mrs. Bingham asusual took the initiative, arranging a meetingbetween herself, Mary, and Dr. Sharp,Superintendent of Schools. The first festival washeld on 30 November 1963. Teams were groupedby age (10 and under, 12 and under, 15 and under,18 and under), and each performed two dances,one set and the other chosen by them. They werejudged for good phrasing, good posture, and neatfootwork. The festivals continued in the earlyyears of the Branch, and must have represented ahuge commitment by the teachers.

Visits by Miss Milligan and the Formation ofthe Vancouver Branch

The catalyst in changing the status of theVancouver organization was probably MissMilligan herself. As President and seniorexaminer for the RSCDS, Miss Milligan went onmany whirlwind tours to conduct examinationsand weekend schools, “determined to ensure thatas the world learns to dance, it dances properly,”according to the Glasgow Herald of 9 April 1975.

In 1954, Mary Isdale MacNab visited Scotlandand met Miss Milligan, who promised that theRSCDS would send representatives to BC to holdteachers’ examinations. Only official RSCDSbranches, however, could hold teacher trainingclasses. Miss Milligan's first visit to Vancouverwas announced in a July 1961 letter from theChairman of the Toronto Branch, who wrote that“Miss Milligan [then aged 75] will not likely beable to repeat her present visit to Canada.” Thisprediction underestimated Miss Milligan's energyand determination several times over, as she cameto Vancouver four more times.

Nellie Forbes served as chair of the committee forMiss Milligan's visit on October 24–26, 1961. Herreport shows that Vancouver welcomed MissMilligan in style:

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Mrs. Forbes, together with Mrs. Bingham, Mrs.MacNab and Mrs. Kerr, went out to the airport tomeet Miss Milligan. Mr. Miller from White Rockhad come to pipe Miss Milligan off the plane. Hewas not able to get out to the plane, but he did pipeher through the waiting room and out to the car.We know that she appreciated and enjoyed thisvery much.

This first trip was a teaching visit. Miss Milligantaught 160 people in the Kitsilano High SchoolGymnasium on Tuesday 24 October. She alsowatched a demonstration by Mrs. Bingham’s teamand a display of the MacNab set dances. Mrs.MacNab had previously met Miss Milligan on oneof her visits to Scotland, and Miss Milligan's highregard for the MacNab dances was shown by theirsubsequent publication by the RSCDS.

Miss Milligan's next visit (November 1–3, 1963)led more directly to the formation of theVancouver Branch. Again she taught thecombined classes at a weekend school in theDunbar Community Centre. Also teaching wereMargaret Bowie, Hugh Thurston, and StewartSmith, who had flown from San Francisco withMiss Milligan. Miss Milligan gave a talk on thework of the RSCDS and impressed everyone withher story-telling ability. In an article sent to theWomen’s Editor of the Vancouver Sun, MaryShoolbraid wrote that those who had attendedMiss Milligan's previous classes “will rememberher teaching and infectious enthusiasm withenjoyment.” Simon Scott remembers that “Shehad a huge presence – she held the whole room.”

Miss Milligan shares a joke with Paul Rising(Mrs. Bingham on L)

This time, Miss Milligan must have stronglyencouraged the formation of a branch, since MaryShoolbraid later wrote to her, “We benefitedenormously and the help and encouragement weall received will, I trust, have far-reaching results.”Mary Shoolbraid also wrote to Miss Haddon,secretary of the RSCDS, for advice on branchformation. Miss Milligan refused to accept morethan $25 for her teaching at the weekend. AsPresident Denys Lloyd of the Provincial ExecutiveCommittee reported, she “expressed a very strongwish that a branch of the RSCDS be formed inVancouver and strongly advised that any fundsraised by the school should be used for thatpurpose.” (About forty Vancouver dancers werealready individual members of the RSCDS.) Soshe exerted some pressure on the Vancouverdancers!

A meeting was announced in the newspapers andDenys Lloyd reported on April 27, “At a meetingheld on April 14, 1964, Scottish country dancersin the Vancouver area voted in favour of becominga branch of the RSCDS.” Years later, Alistair Rosscaptured the atmosphere of 1964:

Eventually the big day dawned and with it the“Will we, won’t we?” meeting. Dorothy and Irecall walking down Granville Street thatafternoon (it was a Sunday) with Pam Jeacockeand Hellen Stephen. The meeting was held in aroom above some stores on Granville betweenPender and Dunsmuir. Representatives of allgroups attended, some enthusiastically for Branchformation, others not so sure, or perhaps justanxious that things be done correctly. Bob[Simpson], with his outgoing personality, waselected first chairman – he was always able to findmiddle ground.

Reporting to the Kamloops group, Denys Lloydstressed the advantages of a branch: closer tieswith the RSCDS, an annual book and bulletin, andthe right to appoint a representative to theExecutive Council and send two voting delegatesto the Society AGM.

The April 14 meeting set guidelines for theoperation of the Branch which are still followedtoday. This statement appears in the minutes:

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The various clubs would continue to functionfreely as in the past and there would be nocompulsion for members of these clubs to becomemembers of the Branch. It was hoped, of course,they would join the Branch, but even so they wouldbe free to dance, as before, with their own groupsand/or to dance in the Branch classes which wouldbe established.

The only disagreement at the meeting concernedthe name of the new Branch. Alistair Rossoutlined the debate:

Much discussion centred on whether the branchwould be a Vancouver Branch, a Vancouver andDistrict Branch, or a BC Branch. Those whofavoured a more limited area felt that a BC Branchwould be unwieldy. They also suggested that somedance groups outside Vancouver might fearinterference from the Branch, even though in facta branch would have no control over them. Thosewho favoured a BC Branch believed that theRSCDS members in other parts of the provincemight prefer to be affiliated with a BC Branchrather than with none.

At first the group opted for “BC Branch” as theExecutive hoped to draw members from across theprovince. The executive was to be elected from themembership at large, with the clubs stillfunctioning independently. The Secretary of theVictoria SCD Society objected, however, fearingdomination by the Branch executive. Lloyd triedto reassure him by arguing that the function of theBranch would be like that of the SCD Society ofBC which it would likely replace. The final votefavoured “BC Branch” by a small majority.

However, Edinburgh had other ideas. TheExecutive Council of the RSCDS quicklyapproved the application to form a new branch.But they disagreed with the chosen name, asRSCDS Secretary Miss Hadden wrote:

It was felt by the meeting that it would be unwiseto call the Branch ‘British Columbia Branch’ onaccount of the possible problems with affiliatedgroups and also the possibility of other districtseventually wishing to form Branches of their own.It was therefore suggested that the Branch should

call itself either “Vancouver Branch” or“Vancouver and District Branch.”

That foresight was justified by the later formationof the Victoria Branch. So, of course, we becamethe Vancouver Branch. With the demise of theVictoria Branch in 2012, Vancouver is again theonly RSCDS branch in BC.

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Two … RSCDS Vancouver Branch, 1964–2015

Early Years of the Branch

Under Chairman Bob Simpson, and with AlistairRoss as first Treasurer, the new Branch flourished.Graded classes were immediately organized atDunbar Community Centre. For the first year,Mary Shoolbraid taught the Basic class andMargaret Bowie the Intermediate / Advanced, butthe following year three levels were introduced,with Beryl MacMillan teaching Beginners, HughThurston Intermediate, and Pauline BarnesAdvanced. A notice in the newsletter suggests thatthe tone of the early classes was serious:

You will be expected to keep up with the work andstandard of the class you attend – sluggards andlaggards beware! You will be expected to workhard during class, but the social dancing whichfollows each class, when you can relax and enjoyyourself, will be all the more rewarding.

First Chairman Bob Simpson with his wife Joycein the 1980s

In 1973, classes moved to the Scottish Auditoriumon Fir Street and 12th Avenue, where as many asfour levels were offered. The closure of thatbuilding in 1982 forced the classes to move into

different elementary schools until the opening ofthe new Scottish Cultural Centre in 1986 gavethem a new and natural home.

Some Vancouver traditions continued, includingthe Betwixt and Between party between Christmasand New Year’s Day. By 1965, the Branch sharedthe sponsorship of this annual dance with Mrs.Bingham’s group. That year 125 dancers attended,and “the Masonic Hall bulged at the seams”according to the Branch newsletter. Thenewsletter itself was brand new that month, andedited by John and Jessie Hicks.

Second Chairman Alistair Ross in 1968

Live musicians for the Betwixt and Between – formany years Alex Jappy and more recently MaryRoss – are another more recent Vancouvertradition. From December 1998, music wasguaranteed in perpetuity by a generous grant fromMary Wattum. Originally Mary Bowden, Maryattended Mrs. Bingham’s early classes as a fellowmember of the St. Andrews Wesley congregation,and until her death in 2008 she was our link withthe early days of dancing.

Another Mrs. Bingham tradition, dancing inStanley Park, was taken over by the Branch in1967. The Branch continued the pattern set byMrs. Bingham in 1963 when she invited allteachers to take turns in organizing the dancing.

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Mrs. Bingham’s Night School classes continuedonly for a short time after the formation of theBranch. The September 1966 newsletter carriedthis announcement:

Of special interest to all Scottish country dancersis the announcement of Mrs. Thomas Bingham’sretirement from teaching the Night School classes.Her long association with Scottish countrydancing in Vancouver has made her a legendaryand respected figure. We hope she will continue togive all Scottish country dancers the benefit of herexperience and wealth of local lore.

Mrs. Bingham at her retirement party in April1967 with Dem Team members: L to R Flora

Thompson, Margaret Zadworny, Pauline Barnes,Dorothy Ross, Mrs. Bingham, Mary Murray,

Hellen Stephen

Mrs. Bingham and also Mrs. MacNab were invitedto become Honorary Vice-Presidents of theVancouver Branch, as “Scottish country dancingin Vancouver owes its inception and flourishingsuccess to your foresight and energy.”

Teacher Training

Now that Vancouver was an official Branch,teacher training classes could be held, and whenMiss Milligan next came to Vancouver in October1965, the Branch gained five new teachers withpreliminary certificates and two with fullcertificates. They had been trained by MaryShoolbraid.

Miss Milligan held subsequent teachers’examinations in Vancouver in September 1971,April 1975, and April 1977. The report on the1971 visit reads, “The candidates were bothchallenged and encouraged by Miss Milligan whopassed on to them both her own undimmedenthusiasm for SCD and her concern for highstandards.” Neither age nor arthritis could deterher: she gained a new lease of dancing life at theage of 89 when she acquired new plastic knees.

In 1973, when Miss Milligan could not make thetrip, Mina Corson conducted the examinations,including a session in unusual circumstances whentwo Victoria candidates could not attend thescheduled exams because of a family emergency.Mrs Corson offered to fit them in during herstopover at the Vancouver airport en route fromCalifornia to Edmonton. CP Air made an officeavailable, eight “stooges” were arranged, and bothcandidates passed.

Miss Milligan with teacher candidates, 1965:Clockwise from bottom left Murray Shoolbraid(musician), Mary Shoolbraid, Nina Thurston,Margaret Zadworny, Harvey Barnes, BarbaraMacPhail, Beryl MacMillan, Sheena Ellis, Una

Bain

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An event which augured well for the future of theBranch occurred in 1966 and was reported in thenewsletter: “We welcome to Vancouver Mr. andMrs. James Murray who recently arrived fromEdinburgh where they were very active in SCD.May your stay be long and active with ourBranch.” It has certainly been that. Not only hasJim served as Chair of the Branch, but Mary hasbeen our long-serving Teacher Coordinator andDemonstration Team Director. From 1973 to thepresent, she has also led all the teacher trainingcourses in Vancouver. Mary remembers the 1973session as particularly significant for the Branch.Many of the 16 successful candidates started newclasses, and membership in the Branch reached anall-time high.

Miss Milligan made her last visit to Vancouver in1977 at the age of 90, a year before her death,complete with new knees and undaunted in spirit.Mary Murray reported, “Miss Milligan was in fineform and charmed everyone with whom she wasable to have a chat. Included in her tour this timewas a four-day visit to Honolulu to which she wasvery much looking forward, and she eventhreatened to return in a grass skirt!” Herpersonality was well summed up in her commentto a Province reporter: “My dear, the dances aremy devouring passion!”

1977 teacher candidates George Will and DorisTycho with Miss Milligan and Mary Murray

The caption for the Province photograph abovewas true in more than one sense: “Miss Milligan’sstaunchly behind Scottish country dancing inVancouver.”

Early Influence of the Vancouver Branch

Because the formation of the Vancouver Branchpreceded that of the San Francisco Branch (1966),Seattle Branch (1978), and Victoria Branch(1973), Vancouver played a mentoring role toother West Coast centres. The DemonstrationTeam went to Portland and Seattle so often thatdirector Pauline Barnes called Seattle the team’s“second home.”

In the early days of the Branch, Vancouverteachers led workshops in many areas in westernCanada and the US, including the PrairieProvinces. In their 1963 report to The Thistle, theCalgary group wrote, “A timely injection ofVancouver enthusiasm inspired us to attemptmany ‘new’ ventures. These included a TVappearance, a summer evening of outdoor dancingand a stage performance at the JubileeAuditorium.” At the first Asilomar, California,weekend in October 1967 the teachers wereVancouver’s Pauline Barnes and Mary Brandon aswell as San Francisco’s C. Stewart Smith.

Closer to home, the Branch reached out to smallercommunities across the province and encouragedthem to develop their own dance groups. The thirdgoal in the Branch Constitution of 1965 was “Toencourage the performance of Scottish CountryDancing in the Greater Vancouver area and wherepossible beyond it.” To help achieve that goal, theBranch set up the C. Stewart Smith award soonafter the early death of Stewart Smith. Thisprovided seed money for new groups andsupported workshop attendance as well as teachervisits.

Demonstration Team

Another innovation by the Branch was theformation of an official Demonstration Team inJanuary 1965 under the direction of MaryShoolbraid. Alistair Ross wrote, “Mary wished tostart an organized demonstration team and set outto whip the locals into shape. Some of us requiredmore whipping than others, we recall.” The newteam gave public performances at venues like theMalkin Bowl, the Planetarium, and the KitsilanoShowboat.

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Demonstration Team dance outside the Planetarium, 2 June 1969. Men from L: Alec Marshall and SimonScott; women from L Pam Jeacocke, Mary Murray, Margaret Zadworny, and Pauline Barnes

The team also travelled further afield, to theTacoma and Anacortes Folk Festivals and eventhe Saskatchewan Folk Festival in 1967.According to the Branch minutes, they “havestimulated interest in Scottish culture and the workof the RSCDS wherever they have appeared” (31May 1967). Pauline Barnes, who became TeamDirector after Mary Shoolbraid left Vancouver in1966, wrote “Vancouver is in the enviable positionof having a demonstration team whose memberscan appear – literally on three hours’ notice – wellturned out, smiling, and prepared to give of theirbest” (Minutes of 14 May 1968). Between 1966and 1970, the team gave 167 performances. In1975, they even went to Ottawa on a government-sponsored trip to promote multiculturalism.

Allan Mason, an early member of the team, sentthis story:

Does anyone remember the days of the KitsilanoShowboat demonstrations we used to do in thoselong-ago summers of the 60's? I remember a timewhen the demonstration team was performing a

dance and one of the couples involved was Boband Joyce Simpson. Bob had a magnificentposture of self-assurance when dancing that farexceeded his memory but not his wit! I can'tremember the dance but it had reels of four on thesides but for some reason Bob turned right anddanced all on his own across the whole length ofthe stage before he realized that he was alone –but with a smile and not a single pause he turnedand danced back to smoothly re-enter theformation just in time which brought loudapproval from all the onlookers except for ourteacher!

The repertoire of the early Demonstration Teamincluded at least one dance with purely localassociations, Gassy Jack’s Eightsome, written byMary Shoolbraid for the BC Centennial in 1967.Mary Isdale MacNab dances like Bonnie Anne,Brig o’ Doon and Macdonald of Sleat also becamestaple dances of the team, together with otherdances in the international RSCDS repertoire. Inthe early days, the team danced in the QueenElizabeth Theatre as part of the Vancouver Folk

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Demonstration Team 1971 Men clockwise from L Alistair Ross, John Allan, Sandy Marshall, JohnHavelotte, Malcolm Mayhew. Women clockwise from L Joan MacArthur, Pam Jeacocke, Josie

Sleightholme, Pauline Barnes (Director), Hellen Stephen

Festival. In March 1966, an enlarged team ofseven sets opened the World CurlingChampionships at the Vancouver Forum, onwooden platforms hastily laid over the ice.

Under subsequent directors Mary Murray,Dorothy Hargreaves, Simon Scott, and nowRebecca Blackhall-Peters, the team has had variedassignments. They have danced on top of GrouseMountain in the fog, in Chilliwack and FortLangley, and at Expo 86 before an audience ofthousands. They have danced to the music ofAlasdair Fraser and shared the floor with theSimon University Pipe Band. They have mountedhuge displays on ballroom floors and adapted totiny stages in church basements. Theseassignments reflect the team’s multiple purposes:to entertain audiences, to promote SCD and drawin new members, and to bring the pleasures ofmusic and dance to people in care homes.

Demonstration Team on Grouse Mountain, 1996:L to R Tony Popplewell, Drew Simpson, Wendy

Hutcheon, Megan Hurn, Ian Allan, DuncanMacKenzie, Jean Hudson, and Debbie McEwan

with Clayne Conings behind

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Demonstration Team, 1980s: Front row L to R Anna Brown, Joan MacArthur, Mary Murray (Director),Irene Money, Cathrine Conings; middle row Barbara Campbell, Debbie MacEwan, Audrey Gordon,Dorothy Hargreaves; back row Drew Simpson, Derek Hill, Clayne Conings, Malcolm Mayhew, Alan

Brown, Jim Murray, Tom Money Photo courtesy of Mary Ann McDevitt

An indication of our changing demographics is that 9 of the 15 dancers shown above were born in Scotland,in comparison with 3 of the 19 shown below.

Demonstration Team, 2015: Front row L to R Kathleen Hall, Rebecca Blackhall-Peters (Director),Louise Steinway, Gerry Stensgaard, Kay Sutherland, Katherine Shearman; back row Sandy Marshall,

Ruth Burns, Duncan MacKenzie, Louise Murphy, Leslie Dawes, Alison Moen, Sally Marshall, Anna LeeBoulton, Gail Urquhart, Diane Coulombe, Diana Bodnar, Sandy Caruth, Mike Nichols

Photo courtesy of Kerry McDevitt

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Branch Workshops

For several years after the formation of theBranch, the annual “camps” continued to be heldat UBC over the Victoria Day weekend, and theCamp Committee remained separate from theBranch Committee. However, falling attendanceand booking problems led to the cancellation ofthe 1971 camp. At that point the Branch steppedin. The newsletter announced the new venture:

Those who have mourned the passing of theannual Camp weekend of fond memory which washeld for a number of years on the 21st of Mayweekend . . . may be interested to know that theCommittee is actively looking into the possibilityof holding a weekend workshop in the fall.

The event was reborn in 1973 as the “VancouverWeekend,” now under the direct control of theBranch Committee.

Stewart Smith (L) instructs Flora Thompson,Denys Lloyd, Sheila Brown, and Josie

Sleightholme

Through the late 1970s and the 1980s, theweekends moved upscale; they were combinedwith the annual Ball from 1978. They were usuallyheld at Easter in a big city hotel: the HotelVancouver, the Bayshore, or the Four Seasons.Such ambitious thinking was justified by thenumbers: 209 were registered for the 1978weekend, and 317 attended the Ball (as MaryMurray remembers, once 50 hotel rooms had beenbooked, the ballrooms came rent-free).

Stewart Smith returned to teach in 1980, and otherfavourite teachers included Bob Blackie ofToronto and Vancouver’s own Mary Murray andSimon Scott. In August 1986, Mary, Simon, andBob Blackie were joined by Alastair MacFadyen(Chairman of the RSCDS) to teach at a week-longworkshop at St. George’s School, held inconjunction with Expo 86. Over 200 dancerscame, from North America and overseas, and theevent was an enormous success.

L to R Mary Murray, Alastair MacFadyen, SimonScott, and Bob Black at Expo WorkshopPhoto courtesy of Mary Ann McDevitt

The Branch launched another ambitious venture in1995 with the first Whistler weekend. Events wereheld in the Conference Centre in Whistler withdancers staying in several hotels in the village.Dancers came from throughout North Americaand beyond for the expert instruction of MaryMurray, Bob Blackie, and Ron Wallace. At theBall, over 40 sets filled the vast floor at theConference Centre.

Two years later, a second successful Whistlerweekend was held, and a third was held in May1999, with Bobby Brown and the Scottish Accentagain playing for the Ball and instructors MarjorieMcLaughlin, Geoffrey Selling, and Simon Scott.As in 1995, the weather was perfect, and piperKevin Watsyk led an impromptu procession ofdancers through Whistler Village to theConvention Centre.

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Grand March at the Whistler Ball, 1999, withKen Bennett and Duncan MacKenzie carrying

Scottish and BC banners, and instructorsMarjorie McLaughlin and Simon Scott behind

Although the Whistler weekends were highlysuccessful, the concrete floors of the ConventionCentre were unkind to the feet. Unless we candeclare SCD an Olympic sport and order our ownsprung floor, the Whistler weekends will probablynot return.

Procession through Whistler Village, 1999, withpiper Kevin Watsyk and Branch Chairs Angela

Gauld and Bob Armour following

A different kind of workshop was held seven timesin the first decade of the 21st century. This was thePearl Holmberg Workshop for Teachers andMusicians, the first SCD instructional eventanywhere to bring teachers and musicianstogether. Top teachers and musicians werebrought in to lead the workshop, many of themfrom Scotland. Separate sessions for teachers andmusicians were followed by a joint practicalsession at which teachers and musicians learned tocollaborate.

The workshop was made possible by the generousbequest of Pearl Holmberg (nee Baillie), who diedin 1997. Pearl had been a Vancouver dancer oflong standing. Having grown up near Dundee, sheimmigrated to Toronto in 1925, and moved toVancouver in 1939. One day in Hudson’s BayCompany she heard Scottish music wafting fromthe sixth floor, and discovered Mrs. Binghamleading one of her Saturday afternoon dances inthe Georgian Room. Pearl then joined first Mrs.Bingham’s Night School classes and later theVancouver Branch, still attending events as sheapproached the age of 90.

The Pearl Holmberg workshops put Vancouver onthe international dancing map, attractingparticipants from throughout the continent.Angela Gauld, first co-organizer of the event withElspeth Rennie, wrote about the first PearlHolmberg workshop, “During the weekend ofMay 12 to 14, the Scottish Cultural Centre wasbuzzing, and bursting at the seams with musiciansand teachers from all over North America.”

Iain Fraser (centre) leads fiddlers at 2000Pearl Holmberg Workshop

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Of the 2001 workshop, teacher coordinatorWendy Swaine wrote in the Celtic Connection:

And how will this wonderful weekend affect theweekly classes in September? The dancers maynotice renewed vigour and awareness in theirteachers, there may be more live musicians toreplace the usual tapes and CDs, and they may beassured that their enjoyment of SCD is the priorityof those folk who promote this favourite activity inthe Lower Mainland.

Kathy Fraser-Collins (foreground) leadskeyboard players at 2001 Workshop

The annual Branch workshop has become a lessformal affair, perhaps closer to its roots at theCrescent Beach Camp. Beginning in February2000, and close to Valentine’s Day every year, theBranch has held the workshop which started as“Back to Basics” and evolved into the current“Love to Dance” workshop. It has become a daywhen dancers, new and experienced, from all theLower Mainland groups get together for a full dayof enjoyment and learning.

Instructor Simon Scott leads his class at Love toDance workshop, 2012

Balls and Bands

The annual balls formerly organized by theProvincial Executive Committee were taken overby the Branch. For several years from 1965, musicwas provided by the only SCD band in the area,The Teuchters of Powell River. Apparently anumber of recent Scottish immigrants worked atthe MacMillan Bloedel pulp mill, and “Teuchters”(originally a derisive Lowland term for HighlandScots) certainly advertised the band members’Scottish identity! Murray Black, leader of theband, was also a piper.

First Branch Ball, Hotel Georgia, November1964: piper Jack Miller and (L to R) Simon Scott,Joyce Fairbairn, Bob Simpson, Joyce Simpson,

Denys Lloyd, Mrs. Bingham

In contrast to the traditionalist 1950s, many dancesby modern devisers were beginning to appear onthe ball programs. The 1965 program includeddances by Allie Anderson, Jack McConachie,John Duthie, Hugh Thurston, Mary IsdaleMacNab, and Bob Campbell, none of which werepublished by the RSCDS. Mrs. Bingham, togetherwith Mrs. MacNab, was a guest of honour at thisball, and one wonders what she thought about allthose non-traditional dances. Afterwards, TheThistle carried this report:

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The recent most successful ball at the CoachHouse, North Vancouver, will have evoked manymemories among the old-stagers of earlier balls atthe Astor, Oscar’s, and the Georgia. And it isindeed most gratifying that at long last anappropriate setting should have been found forthis highlight of the social season. (The Thistle 26)

In fact, the balls continued to be held at the CoachHouse until 1968, but after that they were movedto the Hotel Vancouver.

From 1972 to 1975, Jack Rennie’s Thistle Band ofLos Angeles flew in for the balls. Musicians anddancers coped with marathon programs: the 1972ball had 25 dances and 6 extras. In 1976, StanHamilton’s legendary band came from Ontario toplay. Demand for tickets was so strong that theBall had to be moved out of the Hotel Vancouverto the Carson Graham School gymnasium.

Vancouver dancers had long wanted a band oftheir own, and their wish was finally granted withthe formation of the Schiehallion Band. Theband’s first recorded performance, under leaderIan Price, took place at the Glenayre Club party inDecember 1975. They went on to play for virtuallyall the SCD events in the area. In 1981–82, forexample, Schiehallion played for Fort Worden, theBairns’ Ball, the Glenayre dance, the GleneaglesBall, the Branch Burns Supper, the March Branchparty, the April 1982 Branch Ball, the CalgaryBall, and the Burnaby 10th Anniversary Ball. Theband also issued two recordings during their shortbut intense career. When they retired in May 1987,this comment appeared in the Branch newsletter:

The band began as the brainchild of two Ians,Brady and Price, following the ceilidh of the 1975Vancouver workshop. They went from a band that(by their own admission) was a little rough aroundthe edges to one that is greatly sought after in thecentral and western Canadian dance world. Theywere the only band in the Northwest for a numberof years and by dint of working their hardest, andalways striving to improve, became possibly thegreatest musical asset “out west.” They haveremained friends for the twelve years they havebeen together, during which time they have givensome 200 performances. . . . Only once have theymissed a commitment – they were snowed in at the

Members of Schiehallion from the record coverfor A Vancouver Collection: L to R Derek Hill,

Ian Brady, Davene Browne, Celia Collin, MurrayShoolbraid, Ian Price

airport and unable to play for the Edmonton groupin 1986.

Ian Price, leader of Schiehallion, organized one ofVancouver’s most unusual dance events in 1988.Hoping to create a new world record for the mostparticipants in a single dance, he orchestrated a256-some held at Simon Fraser University. Ianenvisaged this as “a great opportunity for theintermingling of all the groups of dancers in thearea . . . whilst at the same time working togethertowards a spectacular promotional statement forthe SCD which we all love so much.”

Newspaper report of the 256-some:Drum Cavers in foreground and Drew Simpson

and Gerry Stensgaard behind

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Practices were held throughout the precedingwinter and the event was held on the SFU campusin May. The dancers gathered beneath theAcademic Quadrangle and marched behind theSFU Pipe Band down several flights of steps toConvocation Mall, where they performed theEightsome Reel in a series of concentric circles,twice over for good measure. However, the recordstood in the Guinness Book only until the TorontoBranch organized a 512-some in 1991.

Schiehallion came out of retirement briefly to playat the Chairmen’s Ball on 11 November 1989,held at the Gizeh Temple to mark the 25th

anniversary of the Branch. This was instigated bythe first Chairman of the Branch, Bob Simpson,and organized by all previous Chairmen.Decorations were created by second ChairmanAlistair Ross, formerly Head of the ArtDepartment at Kitsilano High School.

Chair Hellen Stephen with former Chairs at theChairmen’s Ball: L to R Dennis Sallaway, Jim

Gordon, Andrew MacArthur, Bob Currie, AlistairRoss, Jim Murray, Denys Lloyd, Bob Simpson

(missing: Ken Morgan)

Ian Price’s creative thinking was also responsiblefor a musical group which has played for many ofour events for the past 25 years. In 1990, Price metTom Scott, leader of a group of fiddlers eager toplay Scottish music.

Together, they saw an opportunity to continue thetradition of live dance music for Scottish countrydancers, and at the same time provide a collectiveperforming outlet for musicians with a desire to

develop their skills in a traditional genre. TheVancouver Fiddle Orchestra was the result. (IanPrice in VFO brochure)

Under its first director Ian Price and now underJanet Wright, the orchestra has played regularlyfor the Gleneagles Ball, the Burnaby annualdance, an evening of Dancing in the Park, andmany other dance events, as well as offeringconcerts of its own. The soaring fiddles, backed bythe strong rhythm section, practically sweepdancers off their feet!

VFO at Branch Burns Supper 2015 (DirectorJanet Wright at R)

Photo courtesy of Kerry McDevitt

Here are VFO Director Janet Wright’s comments:

What fun these musicians have, playing for thedancing! Imagine the sense of anticipation as 20plus musicians take to the stage, and 100–200dancers to the floor. The opening chord, andthey’re off. The dance ends and the dancers’obvious enjoyment inspires the musicians to playthe next with even greater enthusiasm, which, inturn, inspires even greater pleasure in thedancers. There is a wonderful energy that passesback and forth between musicians and dancersthroughout the evening, inspiring each to greaterheights of musicianship, dancing and enjoyment!

Now well into its third decade, the VFO has grownin skill, confidence and enthusiasm, regularlycontributing musicians to various smallerensembles – playing for workshops, weddings,ceilidhs, country dance and step dance classes,various Burns, Scottish and other cultural events.Precisely as Ian and Tom intended!

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Some years ago, Julie Smith (regular pianist forthe Fort Langley club) joined up with the late TonyPopplewell on guitar to play for fun at parties. In2006 the Tartan Players grew from thiscollaboration, at first with Carole Berger on flute,Celia Collin on fiddle, and Davene Browne onbass. Fiddler Deborah Jones then joined, and lateranother fiddler, Lukasz Wieczorek, together withan occasional bass player. The distinctive sound ofthe group, according to leader Julie Smith, isCarole’s flute combined with one or more fiddles.Since 2007, the Tartan Players have played for theVancouver Branch, Fort Langley, Glenayre, WestEnd, White Rock, and Vanisle in Victoria. At the2015 West End party they added Julie’sgranddaughter Naomi Groom on fiddle.

The Tartan Players at the Love to DanceWorkshop 2015: L to R Carole Berger, Deborah

Jones, Joseph Condie, and Julie SmithPhoto courtesy of Kerry McDevitt

Keeping Tradition Alive

Two events in the dancing calendar which arebased on ritual are the Lady Aberdeen ArmisticeDay Tea Dance and the Burns Supper. The annualBurns Supper follows the same pattern every year:the haggis is piped in and addressed, then eatenwith the customary neeps and tatties. Speechesfollow dinner: the “Lassies” are toasted, a spiritedreply is given, and a toast to the “ImmortalMemory” follows. In 1999, Publicity DirectorJohn Menzies commented, “It is remarkable thatevery year the format is essentially the same, yetevery year the tickets sell like haggis cakes.”

Sandy Marshall pipes as Gerry Stensgaardcarries the haggis, 2015 Burns Supper

Photo courtesy of Kerry McDevitt

One aspect of tradition has been modified a little,however. At the first Burns Supper in 1974 theLassies’ Reply was given by Simon Scott (all earlyBurns Suppers were for men only), but since thenthe “Lassies” have been allowed to speak forthemselves.

Isobel James addresses the haggis as DrumCavers watches, 2013 Burns Supper

When the Lady Aberdeen Club ceased its classesin 2010, the Branch decided that the Club’sArmistice Day dance was a tradition worthpreserving. This popular event, with its underlyingvalues of remembrance and charitable giving,continues to be held each November 11, itssponsorship rotating among dance groups.Attendance is usually close to the 200 mark.