An Afternoon with William

On June 9th, 2024, the Auckland-Northland Region of the RSCDS NZ Branch had the pleasure of hosting the RSCDS Chair, William Williamson and his wife Linda for the afternoon. 65 people attended including teachers, musicians and dancers from experienced through to new dancers who had started this year. 
The event opened with an entertaining and informative talk by William about the review and new strategic directions of the RSCDS after the challenges of Covid and the new working groups that had been established. Many of the challenges were ones the region and its clubs have had to face as well including membership, communication and publicity and networking with other groups and it was helpful to hear what was being done in Scotland and a good prompt for us to continue to review what we do in our Region.

His talk was followed by a shared afternoon tea which gave our members a chance to talk with William and Linda about some of the initiatives our clubs and region were trying including pop up socials, events for grandparents and families and NZ Ministry of Health’s initiative the “Green Prescription.” 
The afternoon concluded with William taking us for a class in which he taught us some of his favourite dances and helped polish our technique. Much fun was had by all. NZ musicians, Anne-Marie Forsyth and Sharlene Penman, provided the accompaniment for the class.

The afternoon was invaluable and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Gae Beckingsale 
President, Auckland-Northland Region, RSCDS NZ Branch