DST - Music and Memories

Edinburgh Branch Treasurer Elizabeth Harry tells us about their recent Music and Memories event, held at 12 Coates Crescent...

'Edinburgh Branch has many life members some of whom first joined several decades ago. We have been conscious that there have been few events where they could join with us in recent years, especially during the pandemic, and that many of them do not take part in online activities. We created Music and Memories as an afternoon of friendship to bring these members together, along with many of our newer, younger members.

RSCDS Headquarters on Coates Crescent was the perfect venue for the event. As well as an opportunity for our members to catch up with friends over a glass of wine, we mounted an exhibition to explore some of the treasures of our archive and were all able to enjoy wonderful live music from Tim MacDonald (fiddler) & Peter Shand (piano).

Our archive vividly recorded some of the Branch’s most exciting occasions. There were photos, programmes and memoirs of events such as the Royal Silver Jubilee Show of 1977 in the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen, our trip to Warsaw, Budapest and Prague in 1992 promoting Johnnie Walker Whisky, and the celebrations for our own Branch Diamond Jubilee in 1984.  Our members were able to share memories, and recount all their funny stories of past events. A particular highlight was the personal photograph album of Miss Allie Anderson, the founder of our Branch, with its historic images of both grand and informal dances and occasions from 1926 to 1954. It provided the perfect link to our beginnings, as we look ahead to the centenary of the Branch in 2024.

A real highlight of the afternoon was the amazing music from Peter Shand and Tim MacDonald. Peter regularly plays for our classes and events and Tim has recently moved to Edinburgh from Chicago to research for a master’s degree in Scottish Ethnology. As the five times great-grandson of Flora MacDonald, Tim has an excellent pedigree and is an exceptional fiddler. This duo gave us outstanding entertainment and tunes celebrating Edinburgh including Flowers of Edinburgh, Cadgers in the Canongate and John McNeill’s Reel.

We are grateful to the RSCDS for the use of their Boardroom for this event.'

Thanks to Elizabeth for this blog. If you have news you'd like to share in a future Dance Scottish Together, email lyndsay.walker@rscds.org.