Recent Management Board Awayday

We all join the Society because we are interested in Scottish dancing, and I know some of you are keen to stay abreast of what is happening on the Management Board.  You can read highlights of Board meetings on the MB noticeboard once you have logged in to My RSCDS. 

The Board started 2020 with an ‘Awayday’ style meeting at Coates Crescent to begin developing the next RSCDS Business Plan which will take us to 2024.  Board members were joined by colleagues from the Management Committees and staff to talk freely about the Society and our aims for the next four years, without the constraints of a formal agenda or minutes being taken.  A starting point for our discussion was the response to the extensive consultative exercise that was undertaken throughout the Society in 2016 prior to the creation of the current Business Plan (2017-20).  The results of that exercise are still valid, and the new Plan picks up many of the themes in the current Plan plus, of course, preparations to celebrate the Society’s Centenary in 2023.

The 2020-24 plan is being built around four aims:

• To promote Scottish dancing globally as a fun and friendly activity.
• To help branches promote Scottish dancing in their area.
• To provide appropriate support for Scottish dance teachers and musicians.
• To strengthen RSCDS governance and finance.

Beneath these four aims will be objectives and action points which are still being developed and will be finalised by the Board in March.  Drafts are being sent to branches for comment in the January Branch Mailing.  If you want to look for yourself they are here, and if you want to offer your views on the Society’s plans for 2020-24 please email office.manager@rscds.org

At the Awayday the Board adopted the Scottish Governance Code for the Third Sector, which sets out the key elements of good governance for charities.  I believe the Society is run pretty well, and the Code will help the Board to audit its performance and strive to do the best it possibly can in support of the RSCDS.

The last hour or so of the Awayday was spent discussing what we mean by ‘Scottish country dancing’.  Our tradition of SCD is rooted in the social dancing of Scotland, which continues to this day and compared with a typical RSCDS dance, is often much broader in both style and content.  There is concern in some parts of the Society that we are at risk of losing touch with our roots, and the inclusion of The Eightsome Reel on one of the dance programmes at the Autumn Gathering was a small step in starting to address that. 

All the best for 2020 and enjoy your dancing.

Andrew Kellet

Chairman