East Anglian Centenary Ball

East Anglian Centenary Ball June 24th 2023

We had a full-house of about 120 dancers at Risby Village Hall, Bury St Edmunds to celebrate the RSCDS Centenary with a programme of twenty old and new favourite dances.

The Ball was sponsored by Norwich and Cambridge RSCDS Branches and the Anglo-Scottish Society of Ipswich, with local assistance from the Bury St Edmunds Reel Club. The Musicians were Keith Smith and Anne-Laure Latour who were magnificent, and completely in tune with the dancers. When Keith turned to his Pipes for Major Ian Stewart the roar almost lifted the roof.

We were privileged to have William and Linda Williamson attend; and in a very short speech William emphasised the importance for the future of the Society of cooperation between Branches; and also welcomed the mixing of older and younger people, and the inclusion of less experienced dancers.

The students from Cambridge provided a lot of energy on a very warm evening (as did those in their second or third youth). The less experienced dancers did very well, mainly thanks to their own efforts but also to the help of instructors who ran a number of practice sessions across East Anglia.

The Hall itself, the older part of which also celebrated its centenary this year, made a considerable contribution to the success of the evening with a very good layout coping well with the number of people.

Thank you to all of you who came, who danced with great vigour, with smiles on your faces, and considerable technique. Everyone mixed easily and well.

I hope that the joy, energy and good feeling comes across in the photographs.

Here's to the next 100.

Text by Ian Moore

Composite Photo by Chris Dix

Others photos by Keith Rose, Sarah Emes and Nigel Bennett