Who’s Who?

Gillian Wilson was appointed Executive Officer in August

I am delighted to be working for the RSCDS. During the last four weeks I have begun to learn about the many different activities which enable so much to be achieved through voluntary efforts in Scotland and around the world. Staff at HQ are here to give support in raising the profile of Scottish country dancing. It was inspiring to spend a day at Summer School and see the happiness and enjoyment of people there and the international nature of our Society. Moving to the RSCDS has been a real change for me – my background and interests are in international social justice and development as well as in environmental campaigning, working at organisations including NIDOS (Network of International Development Organisations in Scotland), Friends of the Earth Scotland and Refugee Action. I also spent some time working in Nigeria and studied in Sri Lanka. I grew up in India where my parents worked and where I learned Scottish country dancing - on and off. My father is a Glaswegian and during our summer holidays we met up with other families with a Scottish heritage and enjoyed ‘Caledonian nights’ with Scottish country dancing, pipe playing and stories. While training to be an agriculturalist I even joined the Young Farmers Scottish country dance demonstration group in Market Harborough – though I was often the one nervously making mistakes! I love the music and dance which lifts the spirit, makes your feet eager to tap and your face smile. I often attend ceilidhs and though my technique leaves much to be desired I always come away happy and tired. I shall have to learn more technique … Even though this is a very different area of work for me to be working in professionally, I hope I can bring my skills and experience of managing, partnership building and working with people to my work at the RSCDS, to help strengthen what it is already doing and help it grow and diversify. Please get in touch to let us know when we do things you value and make suggestions for things that need improving. I look forward to ‘meeting’ many more of you face to face or digitally and working with you all to make my contribution alongside the rest of the staff in HQ.

Bill Cant

Bill Cant volunteered to become our new Treasurer (a decision he claims he may regret). He qualified as a Chartered Accountant and sub-sequently worked with a multinational pharma-ceutical company and the insurance company, General Accident. He is able to present and explain financial figures to colleagues and associates in a clear and understandable fashion. Bill works as an investment manager with Thorntons Investments in Dundee, Scotland. His job involves managing portfolios of investments such as shares for private individuals and charitable trusts. As a result he looks forward to sitting at the other side of the desk with Standard Life explaining to him how the Society’s portfolios of investments are performing. When he was at Aberdeen University, or qualifying as a CA in Edinburgh 40 years ago, rather as now, Scottish country dancing was not particularly cool, although he had enjoyed ceilidh dancing and the music at school. Later, when he was working in London he thought he would try Scottish country dancing. To that end he attended a beginner’s class in Chelsea no less! It was taught by Owen Meyer, a superb and patient teacher. So much so that the next year he returned, still attending the beginner’s class, but staying on for the intermediate class. That was very fortunate as also attending the intermediate class was a young research scientist from Fraserburgh whom he later married. The Cants are a dancing family. Bill and Mary are to be found at dances anywhere within travelling distance of Dundee, Perth, Blairgowrie, Pitlochry and St Andrews. Recently their daughter, Christine, moved to Aberdeen to university and subsequently to work there and she has enjoyed being part of the vibrant SCD scene in Aberdeen where Mary and Bill have attended some super dances. This summer, to celebrate a birthday they went to a dance in Edinburgh where they were joined by their son, James.

New Book for Young Dancers

Education & Training and Membership Services invite RSCDS members to submit dances for consideration for a new book to be published in 2017. The book will be aimed at young dancers (aged 5 - 16 years) suitable for children’s festivals, teaching younger dancers and also for social dance programmes for less experienced dancers of all ages. The dances can have been previously published or be newly devised. We are looking for a mix of jigs, reels and strathspeys based on RSCDS formations. The principal requirement is that the dances are suitable for children’s festivals so all dances should consist of 32 bars and be danced progressively either 4 times

through for four-couples in a longwise or a square set; or 8 times through for

two or three-couples in a four-couple

longwise set.

No more than one dance per deviser will be selected for inclusion in the final book, but a maximum of two dances per deviser can be submitted for selection. The closing date is Friday 25th March 2016 via the RSCDS.docs site (this can be accessed by typing the following into your web browser: http://eval.rscds.net/p/ book-51/. For further information please contact us at book51@rscds.org