Helensburgh & District Highland Association

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Tickets for the Christmas Dance and Hogmanay Party Dance are now on sale..

 

Christmas Supper Dance Friday 15th December  members  £24  and £28 for non members.

 

Hogmanay Party Dance  Tickets  members £14  and £20 for non members.

 

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Dance Report September 2023

 

Dance held at the Commodore Hotel on Friday 29^th September 2023

 

Welcome and opening Remarks by Neil MacLeod, Honorary President.

 

 

At the start of the evening at 8.00pm, Honorary President Neil MacLeod began his opening remarks with a genial welcome.

 

There were 52 people in attendance, all members on this occasion. The bar within the dance hall area was open for refreshments.

 

The music was performed by the Wayne Robertson Duo, under nicely illuminated stage lights, providing a range of dances starting with the ‘Flirtation Two-Step’ to an immediately full floor of dancers. The Band hire cost was £420.

 

Tea and coffee was made available timeously at 9.30pm thanks to Eddie who ran the bar during the evening in a most efficient, courteous and helpful manner.

The raffle that followed raised the tidy sum of £154. Thanks to ticket buyers and to everyone who generously provided an abundance of prizes.

 

After the interval the programme continued with the schedule of dances played at the Band’s sometimes brisk pace and enjoyed by dancers on a busy dance floor.

 

Comments were readily provided by members during the course of the evening including, “The dance was excellent”, ”A good and cheery band”, “Fast moving tunes”. A few mentions were made about the floor condition towards the end of the evening.

 

The Honorary President concluded the evening by thanking everyone for attending what proved to be a most entertaining and well attended evening. And of course the evening was concluded with the traditional singing of Auld Lang Syne.

 

There was a profit of £109.20 after deductions for venue hire, ceilidh band and other associated costs were taken into account.

 

The next dance will again take place in the Commodore Hotel on *Friday 27^th October 2023 with music by the Johnny Duncan Duo.

 

*Footnote:

As it happens, the next dance coincides with the last weekend of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival in Edinburgh. This is the World’s largest celebration of storytelling anchored in Scotland, an acknowledged nation of storytellers or “Seanchaidhean” in Scottish Gaelic. So, who among us will have a tale or two to tell?

 

Bob McCafferty

 

 

 

Well Done, all the Dancers 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance held at the Commodore Hotel 25 August 2023

 

For the last dance of the calendar summer the rain gods grimaced rather than scowled as a slightly soggy evening welcomed a passable roster of 57 dancers (49 members and 8 guests) to the Commodore. Membership fees for the coming year were taken with entrance fees at the door and membership forms distributed for completion along with the syllabus for the dances until next June.  44 members renewed their membership and 6 new members were added to the role on the night.

 

The evening commenced as always with opening remarks by President Neil MacLeod and an introduction of the band, the ever dependable Ewan Galloway, accompanied by his drummer and a one man entourage (his dad) hosting a table full of Ewan's CDs, DVDs and memorabilia available for purchase. As was to be expected the music was splendid and the first half concluded exactly on time for the break at 9.30.

 

Sadly, after early delivery of tea and coffee at the last dance, the Commodore service reverted to type with delivery of refreshments delayed to the point that it had almost been decided to go ahead with the raffle before they finally arrived, and that despite several reminders from the committee members organising. In addition, as has become the norm, the coffee quickly ran out and was not speedily replenished. Two pots had been requested at the outset, but apparently it was impossible for more than one to be provided at a time!

 

Nor was that the extent of the Commodore's lackadaisical attitude to its customers. For an organisation seeking to attract weddings and other mass events the large hole in the plasterboard at the entrance to the Osprey Suite was highly unlikely to provide a good first impression of the facilities; the stage lighting (or inadequacy thereof) was commented on by the band at the outset and it was explained that the President had raised this on numerous occasions with the Commodore management to no avail; instead of the customary long rectangular tables, round ones more appropriate for a meal were set out and were presumably left over from the last function;  finally, and most damning for a dance event, the floor had obviously been treated and polished to a slight sheen with some substance which, while slightly tacky at the outset became more and more adhesive as the evening wore on, presumably the heat from the hall and pressure of the dancers' feet producing some sort of melting effect on the polish – again the treatment of the floor had previously been raised on several occasions with the management. Add in the dilapidated state of the toilets and all in all this was a far from stellar service from the Commodore!

 

The raffle was held as usual at half time and raised the respectable sum of £178. Thanks as ever to those participating and in particular to donors of the prizes.

 

Admittance fees for the evening amounted to £586 with a further £250 generated by membership dues. Total income with raffle included was £1,014 with outgoings of £515.90 leading to a net profit of £248.10 discounting the membership dues received.  

 

Dancing continued (with ever more floor related difficulty) after the interval and the evening ended with the usual address from the President followed by the last waltz and Auld Lang Syne.

 

The next dance will be held in the Osprey Suite of the Commodore on 29 September with music provided by the Wayne Robertson Duo.

 

 

 

 

Ewan Galloway, accompanied by his drummer and a one man entourage

(his dad)

 

 

And Well Done all the Dancers   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regret to announce the passing of Katie MacDonald.

Katie was a Life Member and past President of the Helensburgh & District Highland Association, as well as President of the Clydebank Association.

If you met Katie once, you would never forget her - Just such a lovely character, and one of the few remaining Gaelic speakers left in the Helensburgh Association.

 

Katie died in hospital on 27th July.

There will be a funeral service held in Cardross Church 

at 11am on Tuesday 8th August.

The burial will take place subsequently on The Isle of Skye.

Dance held at the Commodore Hotel 30 June 2023

 

And......normal service resumes! After the bright sunshine and cloudless skies of

 May's dance,  

Dreich and dismal were the epithets best describing the conditions greeting those attending the latest event,

heralding a return to something more closely approximating the Helensburgh norm. 

spirits of those attending may have been dampened by the weather, however, the 

the excellent music provided by the Steven Carcary SDB was guaranteed to put a spring in the steps of the dancers,

particularly with reference to a superb selection of 6/8 marches gracing several of the dances. 

Some mellifluous vocals from Steven Carcary also added to the ambience.

The evening commenced after

the customary welcome by President Neil MacLeod with the peculiarly idiosyncratic 

Helensburgh version of the Eva Three Step followed by a varied programme of dances.

It was pleasing to note that numbers were fairly substantially up on recent months with 48 members

and 10 guests attending producing revenue almost, but not quite, sufficient to break 

even on the night without reference to raffle income. One can only hope that the upward trend continues.

The prompt arrival of tea and coffee for the interval refreshments slightly truncated the last dance of

the half, but better that than the late delivery at recent events. Detracting from that positive,

however, the coffee ran out before everyone requesting it was served and a replacement supply took

an unreasonably long time to arrive and was stewed when it did.

The raffle was held as usual at half time and raised the respectable sum £169. Thanks to those

participating and in particular to donors of the prizes.

Following on the raffle a presentation was made to representatives of

'Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank'

 and 'Food for Thought' as part of the Association's charitable remit, with each organisation

receiving a cheque for £400.

Before the the commencement of the second half Secretary Anne Thorn outlined the options for the

Christmas Dance, with a choice between a supper dance with one course meal and tea/coffee at a

price of £24 per head for members and a normal dance at the standard price. Members present were

asked to vote on the matter and, although a number did not register a vote, the majority of those

voting opted for a supper dance.

Admittance fees for the evening amounted to £484 with an additional £10 kindly donated by a

member unable to attend. Total income with raffle included was £663 with outgoings of £525

leading to a profit of £138.

Dancing continued after the interval and the evening ended with the usual address from the

President followed by the last waltz and Auld Lang Syne.

 

The next dance will be held in the Osprey Suite of the Commodore on 25 August with music

provided by the Ewan Galloway SDB.