DST - Herts and Borders Branch

Dance Scottish Together, the new members e-newsletter aims to highlight stories and events from different Branches and Groups in each issue; here we hear from Jane Rose, Chairman of the newly formed Herts and Borders Branch. 

"Scottish Country Dancers living in the county of Hertfordshire (and its borders) now have their own Branch through which to join the RSCDS, the Herts and Borders Branch.  A handful of keen dancers (Ian and Emma Stewart, Rose and Stu Kreloff and Jane Rose) had started the process back in 2019 but didn’t expect their first year to be one of pandemic and lockdown!

However, lockdown meant that all the admin could be done behind the scenes and we were up and running and ready to hold our first events as soon as we could dance.  We were the first group to hold ‘in person’ dancing in Hertfordshire and held three afternoon dances in a new venue in St Albans.

In August Ken Martlew (Branch President) and Barbara Manning played for our very first event and in September, another local musician, Ian Robertson played for us.  For our third dance Sandy Nixon travelled down from Ayrshire to play for us and he was joined by Bob Parsons from London.  Having taken all the necessary Covid precautions, these afternoons were hugely successful and the enjoyment shown on both the dancers’ and musicians’ faces was very special.

Sandy Nixon and Bob Parsons ready to play

Back in June, the Branch had held an afternoon tea in a member’s garden for representatives from all the local groups within our area to stimulate friendship, support and co-ordinate event planning in the area.  Our future plans include holding a Basic Skills Course early next year and of course to celebrate the RSCDS Centenary in style in 2023.

Luckily, we gained a National Lottery Fund donation to underpin our first event and during our very first year, we gained 24 Founding Members.  At our October tea dance, Ken Martlew presented these supportive members with Founding Member Certificates.  The Certificates had been kindly been signed by Jean Martin and Andrew Kellet and we hope will be something to treasure.  Our membership is now over 35 and growing... We are looking forward to more dancing in Herts and Borders."

Founding Members and their certificates

Thanks for the update Jane.  If you’d like to be involved with Dance Scottish Together, please email Lyndsay at lyndsay.walker@rscds.org, she’d love to hear from you!  The deadline for the December issue is Sunday 12th December.