Volume 16 #2 - January 2010

• From the Chairman's Corner
• Upcoming Branch Workshop
• Out of Town Events
• TAC Summer School
• Wanted - Volunteers
• It’s Plaidie News and Tartan Trews      part 2
• Miss Manners says ...
• Branch Teachers
• Committee of Management: 2009-2010

Bursary Fund

TAC Summer School is coming to  Waterloo in August 2010. The London Branch has a Bursary Fund to provide financial assistance to Branch members who are attending Summer School for the first time or who are taking the examination for their Preliminary Teachers Certificate or their Full certificate. The Bursary Fund will give 2 bursaries each year for 50% of the registration fee for Summer School or Certificate examination course.  Written applications  must be received by the Secretary no later than March 31,2010 . For further information please contact Janet Schreiber

Store at TAC Summer School

The London Ladies will be having a store at TAC Summer School in Waterloo in August 2010. Marie Zicarelli used gentle persuasion to convince Nancy Duncan and myself to have the store. Nancy and I have been busy creating new merchandise.  We would appreciate any donations of crafts with a Scottish flare or of interesting design. Many of the dancers attending Summer School travel a great distance therefore merchandise needs to be of a size that will fit  into luggage. All revenue from the store goes to the Bursary Fund. If you have any talents, ideas for crafts that would be suitable for the store, please contact Nancy Duncan or Janet Schreiber

Branch Thrift Store

Contact Janet Schreiber if you have any items for the store or if you are looking for a new outfit for dancing.

Accessing RSCDS Headquarters Website

The web address for RSDCS headquarters is www.rscds.org. This website contains everything from where there are Branches or Affiliate groups world wide to the headquarters store where you may order merchandise. If you click on the term “MEMBERS” and use the login advance and password retire you will have access to what is mentioned above plus the annual AGM report from Scotland and other documents that are sent to your Committee of Management on a regular basis

WANTED!

Your Committee of Management is made up of 10 members elected by the Branch members, plus a teachers’ representative who is chosen by the Branch teachers.  These individuals are all volunteers.

 As Past-Chair, one of my duties is to chair the nominating committee  which nominates members for election to the Committee of Management.  The next elections will be held at the 19 May, 2010 Annual General Meeting.  This is your advance notice.

The current terms of Secretary and the Committee at Large position of Membership Secretary will end in May 2010.  Neither Janet Schrieber (Secretary) nor Sheilagh Manning (Membership Secretary)are eligible to stand for re-election as each will have ably completed six years in her respective position.  In addition, the Committee at Large position of Social Convenor will be open.  The incumbent, Ruth Noble will have  completed her two year term.  Ruth has indicated her willingness to continue in the position if she is re-elected.

Please speak to me if you might have an interest in serving on the Committee of Management.  We have worked hard over the past few years to develop procedures and guides for all of the Committee positions to assist in the Branch administration and to ensurecontinuity.  Job descriptions have been written for each position.

The Committee communicates via email and it is essential that a candidate for Secretary  or Membership,  have computer

 keyboarding aptitude and home e-mail, be well organized, and

 commit to the position the time and skill it requires.  The

Committee meets about 9 times a year. In addition, the Committee plans all the Branch events during the year and with the help of  volunteers looks after everything from ensuring that your linennapkins are supplied and folded,  our Branch dinners are catered, halls and bands booked and flowers are on the tables.  It is a great way toget to know other members much better, and to have the satisfaction of working for the betterment of your Branch and to be more involved.

                                                                Brian Campbell    Past Chair.

 K-W Branch: March 13 Workshop and Dance

June 13 Crystal Ball: Blair Group
30^th Anniversary Ball March 27 with Bobby Brown and the Scottish Accent. Dancers $ 55  non-dancers $ 30

Toronto: Tartan Ball  February 20 at the Fairmont Royal York 5pm-1:30am .

Sarnia Group : Annual Ball – April 17 at St Georges Church Hall

WINTERFEST  -- Our Annual celebration of winter. This event is held at the Coldstream Community Centre.  The  fun starts around 3pm with a snow sculpting competition, hiking, X-country skiing, snow-shoeing and for the less active board games or cards (bring your own). At the appointed hour the Haggis is piped in  and addressed.   We enjoy a pot luck supper- bring a salad or dessert (your plates and cutlery)- the CoM provides the main course and we  then dance  to  the music of Fred Moyes. All- including partners - are welcome!!!!

RSCDS London Canada Branch 2010 Winterfest Dance
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Coldstream Community Complex
Middlesex Centre

1   Corn Rigs                           6x32R    2c in 3c set          4-12

2   The Starry Eyed Lassie      8x32     3c in 4c set           23-11

3   Highland Mary                    8x32S  3c in 4c set           LAD2

4   Triumph                              4x24R  4c in 4c set            1-2

5   Miss Haddens Reel            8x32J   3c in 4c set            23-5

6   The Cuillins of Skye           8x32S  3c in 4c set            4/78

7   Highland Lass                    8x32R  3c in 4c set            30-3

8   Joie de Vivre                      8x32J   3c in 4c set         39-2

9   The Marquis of Lorne        8x32S  3c in 4c set            MMM2

10 The Mason’s Apron           8x32R  3c in 4c set           Border Bk

11 Wild Geese                        8x32J   3c in 4c set             24-3

12 Glasgow Lasses                 8x32S  3c in 4c set            34-3

13 White Cockade                   8x32R  3c in 4c set             5-11

It’s Plaidie News and Tartan Trews      part 2

Who used  tartans and when? In 1538 James V ordered “three ells of  Highland tartan for the hose”. But it was probably the Romantic Movement(1798-1830) that glorified the Highlanders as fabled, exotic offspring of the Celts, noble savages, heroic warriors, and Celtic bards dominating savage Caledonia . “Highlandism” became popular because it celebrated Celtic origins, a sad past, and a rebelliously proud, independent people. Soon promoting Highland culture were the “Highland Society of London” (1778) and the “Highland Society of Scotland” (1784), groups which sponsored the Gaelic language, piping competitions , and collection of tartan patterns (about 75 by 1815) After 1820 the passion for “la mode ecossaise” or “Scottish style” had gripped Europe, and produced tartan patterns which were passed off as “old” designs, many of them forgeries. Thomas Lauder, a friend of Sir Walter Scott, complained in fact that “ some of the clans area at this moment ignorantly disputing for the right to the same tartan, which in fact belong to none of them, but are merely modern inventions” There are at least 75-80 patterns in 1830; 200 in 1900 and 3000 in 2000.

How reliable are the historical descriptions of tartans? The Cromarty manuscript (dated 1721) is probably a fake. In 1815 the Highland Society of London identified 74 different tartans. W and A.K. Johnston’s Tartans of the Clans and Septs of Scotland (1891, vol2) lists 200 plus setts, many of them new. Three circumstances helped to popularize the tartan. First after the state visit of George IV to Edinburgh in1822, tartan became very  fashionable in public opinion: Sir Walter Scott oversaw the details of the visit, and soon a “tartan fit came over the city”. The king appeared in a kilt of Royal Stewart tartan. Second, Queen Victoria , the niece of George IV, genuinely liked the Highlands , visiting in 1842 and 1844. Her favourite tartans were the Dress and Royal Stewart, and Albert, in fact, devised the Balmoral tartan. Third,  tartan survived through its tie with army: the British government exempted military from its ban of tartan, partly to enhance recruitment for the newly formed Highland regiments which could help to expand the British Empire . The regiments needed large numbers of tartans, and that helped to standardixe setts. The military association not only  glamorized the

 pipes and kilts, but also re-asserted the  historic struggle for Scotland ’s rights. Scottish mercenary soldiers in tartan from Norway to Australia , also helped to influence its appeal throughout the world.

In the 1700’s the green-blue-black of the Black Watch became a quasi-governmental tartan, assigned to soldiers suppressing cattle theft, an  activity known as “black trade”. The specifications of military tartan are  laid out in the ‘Clothing Book’ (1742). After 1746, many army recruits might have been attracted by the ability to wear traditional tartans.  Prominent regimental tartans were the Gordon tartan ( patterned after the Black Watch), that of the Fraser Highlanders ( who settled in Canada in the 1770’s), and that of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders (1793).

In the face of ‘inventions’ groups soon arose  to defend true tartans and real Highland clothing---the Society of True Highlanders (1815), for example and the Clan Fraser Society of Canada (1868), the latter  reflective of the forced emigration of the Scots. In the twentieth century many of these expatriate Scots sought their own tartans, a desire which resulted in newer designs.

By the 1950’s corporate and provincial tartans had also grown sharply; PEI and BC both have  tartans, there is an Olympic tartan, one for the  US navy and a ‘Singh’ tartan (1999) for Sikhs. Matching these ‘novelty tartans’ were commercial ones—for hotels (the Gleneagles tartan), Irn Bru, Aquascutum (1942), American Express, the Salvation Army and Drambuie (based on the McKinnon tartan). Such novelty tartans help tourism and heritage awareness, and assist in money raising. In 1995 a Tokyo country dance team acquired the Katushika Club tartan, and there are hundreds of other twentieth century tartans, from districts near Glasgow to those in Wales . The process is overseen by the Scottish Tartan Society (1963). Any supporter of a Scottish team can wear the “Tartan Army” pattern, which is an amalgam of Black Watch and Royal Stewart.

And for  the forgetful, there is even a Tartan Day, which the US Senate  declared in 1998, to be held April6, the same day  that in 1320 Robert the Bruce sent the Declaration of Arbroath ( Scotland ’s declaration of Independence ) to Pope John the 22^nd.                                 Peter Auksi

Miss Manners Says…

In a previous column, we discussed briefly the challenge facing every dancer in all circumstances, that every set will contain dancers of greater and lesser experience.  Sometimes, dancers are cajoled into getting up when they are unsure of the dance but do not wish to disappoint the awaiting set or a potential partner.  When this occurs, it can result in a few “hiccups” along the way. 

Gentle reader, cast your mind back to your salad days when even a subtle negative comment would have been devastating to your ego.  It is imperative that we exhibit tolerance for our fellow dancers, particularly those who, because of inexperience or compromised physical ability, are not able to dance as expected.  Inappropriate behaviour due to frustration on the dance floor not only sets a bad example to other dancers, it also risks the departure of much-needed members. 

When a dancer appears unsure, it is helpful to offer hints but this should be done with the greatest sensitivity.  No one appreciates having directions shouted out and, under no circumstances, should a dancer be physically shoved or pulled through the dance!  Subtle techniques such as eye contact, quiet verbal cues or hand directions will accomplish the same ends without embarrassing the individual(s) or disrupting others in the set.  Also keep in mind that making one mistake does not necessarily mean that someone requires continual cues. 

Remember, this is social dancing which welcomes everyone to enjoy our “darling diversion”.

We are very pleased that all of our teachers have agreed to teach for the 2009-2009 year.  Teaching SCD is a labour of love and we owe a debt to each of our teachers who spend hours preparing for their respective classes.

Wednesday evening classes 8:00:

Basic class – Catherine Shaw

Intermediate Class – Douglas Clarke

Experienced Class- Marie McLennan

Substitute Teacher - Christine Basnett

Friday evening class 7:30

Social Class – Helen Bell

RSCDS LONDON BRANCH COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT 2009-2010