About us and Our History
by Barbara McQuillan :)
Who we are
Please see the Contacts page for our current committee.
We are a friendly club devoted to Scottish country dancing. There are many other clubs like ours around the UK and throughout the world where people can socialise and dance. The Royal Scottish Country Dance Association (RSCDS) is in overall charge of protecting and promoting the standards, and we are affiliated to it via the RSCDS Berks/Hants/Surrey Border Branch. See the Links section for more details of these organisations and the history of Scottish Country Dancing.
The club has always catered for a general standard with a special welcome to beginners. The club is a small but growing one with typically two sets dancing.
Report summary for the year ending May 2008
The major high point last year was our ‘Start of Season Dance’. This was our first dance for a number of years, and very successful it was too, thanks to all those who helped out. Many of those who came said how much they enjoyed it.
Next year we’ll be having a dance on 1st November with Green Ginger at the Carnation Hall.
The committee has already started preparing for the club’s 50th Anniversary dance on 26th September 2009. If you know of any people who used to attend the club years ago please tell a committee member so we can send invitations out to them personally.
Recruitment fell back a bit at the start of last year because of concentrating on the dance, It needs to be put back high on our agenda. (See our new poster).
History
The club has had a varied history and our records are very incomplete. The following is my best current reconstruction. We would be very grateful for any contributions on the club’s history or corrections to what is here.
The official date of the club’s founding is July 1959 when the ‘Bracknell and District Caledonian Society’ had its inaugural meeting. It was affiliated with the Burns Federation rather than the RSCDS. The club had its early meetings on Thursday evenings at Bullbrook Community Centre. For anyone who can remember pre-decimalisation prices members were charged 1/6d and non-members 2s an evening. The first committee was:
Hon President: The Lord Forres
President: Mr A Porteus
Vice President: Mr F J Kilpatrick
Secretary/Treasurer: Mr Brown
Social Governor: Mr A Dougall
M.C: Mr H Campbell
Publicity Organizer: Mr E Briggs
Committee Members: Mr J McKenzie, Mrs H Hyde, Mrs Holmes
A notable new committee member in October 1960 was Mr W. Forbes who was asked to join because of his “dancing (Scottish) knowledge”. It was another five years before the minutes loosened up enough to refer to him as Bill Forbes.
In 1962 the club affiliated with the RSCDS, it left the Burns Federation at the same time.
Another source for the club was an informal group for dancing that started up in the late 1950’s. They met at the Wellington Hotel in Crowthorne. In 1963 they went to meet there one night and couldn’t get in because of policemen all around the hotel. There was a big scandal which was in all the papers - strippers from London and Air Chiefs etc. The hotel closed shortly afterwards and houses were built on the site. Most of the people there, including Marie Bennett and her husband who were running it, joined the Bracknell club.
The club later had its meetings at the Wellington Country Club, then Sebastians Memorial Hall (where St Johns now meet), and then at Easthampstead Parish Centre for ten years, before settling on its current location at Birch Hill Community Centre in 1979.
A few years ago a number of members left for another club and often there would only be one set. Recently the numbers have started to grow again which gives the dancing a much better 'buzz'. Beginners are very welcome and will find other people who have also recently joined.
David McQuillan