We are indebted to Brian Lawrenson for this detailed history of our local country dance club.
A Brief History of the club from its foundation in 1938
Early Days
The Club was started by Charlie Stewart of Tayport in 1938, as a result of local demand from dancers who found it difficult to get home to Fife from evening dances in Dundee, at a time when the only link was with the Tay Ferries (The Fifies). During these early years, the club met in the Tayside Tearooms (now the upstairs of the Brig O’ Tay), above Mrs Cameron’s Sweetie Shop, and that is how it got its name. The first teacher of the Club was Stuart Henderson, who was the drummer in Mrs Bird Matthew’s Band (Mrs Bird Matthew was quite famous in country dancing circles). Stuart left to join the RAF at the outbreak of the Second World War and was succeeded by Kate Laing and May Ferry, until Stuart returned after the war.
Katine French
The French Sisters
In common with most Country Dance groups of that era, the club was in considerable demand, and the names of prospective members were put on to a waiting list. We know some of the early details because two of the very first members were Katine and Nancy French. Both schoolteachers, these sisters were born in Newport-on-Tay and lived there together the whole of their lives. Their house was in Tay Street; the last one before Cupar Road, and it was unchanged inside from late Victorian times, right down to the horn gramophone in the sitting room. For many years Katine, the elder, acted as Club Chairman and teacher, and both played a central role in the functioning of the club. Nancy wrote the dance Logan Bridge in honour of the opening of the Tay Road Bridge in 1966. Shortly before their deaths, both ladies were happy to share their memories with Helen Lawrenson, who recorded and transcribed their anecdotes.
Bobby Crowe and Pianist Joan Blue
Music
For a long period the club had a resident musician, Bobby Crowe, a well-known accordionist who had his own band and made numerous recordings that were used by dancers all over the UK. Being a local tradesman (a joiner in Balmullo) Bobby played for the club every Wednesday for many years. As Katine had encouraged him when he was a young boy, Bobby played at Newport without a fee, which was characteristically generous.
Brian and Helen Lawrenson
Dance Teachers
The list of later teachers includes Nancy French, Helen Beat, Rose Watson, Stella Phillips, and now Alison Malcolm. Most have held the teaching certificate of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. Stella, now an honorary member of the Club, is a past Chairman of Dundee Branch of the RSCDS and one of its Honorary Vice-Presidents (as are Brian and Helen). Helen, who is also a former Chairman of the Dundee Branch, has stepped in on occasions when the teacher is unavailable.
Locations
A well attended dance in Blyth Hall 1940s
The club has met in a number of local halls over the years; we were probably longest at the Upper Blyth Hall (until the council priced this out of our reach!); then we moved to the very chilly church at the end of the High Street (now a housing complex), and then we moved to The Rio. The Rio was at one stage a cinema, and its floor slopes downwards towards what was once the screen. Going down the middle and up was an unnerving experience for dancers used only to horizontal floors! Since 2010, however, we have been very fortunate to meet in Newport Church Hall, which has the most splendid floor, even if the heating is rather hit-and-miss! At the time of writing, we are having to face up to taking out Public Liability Insurance as a result of a Church of Scotland requirement. It remains to be seen how this will feed into the subscription for members, which we have been lucky to keep at a very low figure for many years.
(BL Dec MMXXI)
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