FEBRUARY 2012
To kick off the Christmas break ups we had a terrific night at Southern Cross Plus. Thanks to all our regulars and visitors. Unfortunately Alan & Janette were not able to attend and sent their apologies. Una & Campbell were back from their month long cruise, they had a wonderful time, but unfortunately Una had a broken wrist was not able to dance. Thank you to Adrian, Carol Coral, Janice and Mike coming along to help out with the program. Peter Humphries & Ralph both sent their apologies as they were also unable to attend. We had a great night with lots of dancers crammed into the hall, and luckily the weather was on our side by not being too hot.
A number of us went across to JBs Christmas break up and they too had great night with lots of dancers. Mike called just about every Christmas song there was, although he left me a couple to do.
Our next break up was Crossroads and it was another great night. We had the pleasure of Marie & Thomas from Vienna Austria, as well as other visitors including Ralph and Lyn, Jonathan & Ray Saunder. We even got a visit from our daughter Rachel and coaxed her into dancing the last bracket.
Southern Cross A was the next night and we had such a terrific night. Once again Marie & Thomas from Vienna were there as well as Peter Humphries & Sandy. It was great to have Peter call for us and we can look forward to Peter calling for us in 2012 whilst Brenda & I are holidaying in Europe. See dates to be remembered for more details. Don’t forget that our 14th birthday is coming up very early next year, see dates for that one too.
The Christmas break ups continued the following week, although we are not able to get to all of them, we were able to get to Matamoras A Level break up. It was great to be able to dance A Level and Peter certainly tested my dancing skills. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. The next night was Whitehorse Square Dance Club break up and although getting there late, it was another great night. Janice was in fine form and Merryn surprised us all with a call. Although she did drag us up on to the floor so we would dance to her.
The next night was our final Square Dance Xmas commitment which was a social dinner at Mary’s place. What a fabulous night this was. Mary, Tony and Brenda did such a good job with the catering. Brenda & I would like to give a great big thank you to Mary for the use of her home, which was a perfect venue for the function. We finished the night with a number of dancers getting into the spirit of Alphabet Karaoke. Well they really didn’t get a choice when their names were called out alphabetically. I had better watch out, some of them might want to take over the mic next year.
DECEMBER 2011
The start of November was still cruising time for a number of our dancers as we continued to enjoy the music, food and fun of Cruisin’ Country, and I think it was a huge success. Everyone seems to have come home on a ‘high’ and some have even rebooked for 2012. There was lots of square dancing on board and even with the small dance floor; the dancers packed themselves onto the floor. The midnight dances gave us all something to do in the wee small hours of the night. Hopefully, the large number of people who attended the beginner classes will join a learner’s class when they get back home. It was great to catch up with Dawn & Dave who were part of the ‘original’ Crossroaders some 30 years back.
Eileen and Jeanette are now counting down the days till they head off again and I have heard whispers of others planning more fun and exciting holidays too.
Dancing continues to be fun. Our ‘Summer Beach Party’ was a great night with lots of summer songs; thank goodness the threats by someone to wear a ‘mankini’ were not followed through.
Our first night back at SCP was a great night with lots of dancers. A number of dancers recently attended the VSDA dinner dance and even though it seemed to take us longer to get to the venue than other years, and despite the heat, the storm and the humid conditions; it was still a great night and the yummy food was worth the drive. Well done to the Committee and Program Managers. Extra early Christmas break up for SCP this year as they kick off the first of our celebration dances.
Although we missed a night in November due to the cruise, it was a great night when we got back into it. The dancers who have recently completed the A1 program are dancing really well and they seem to be enjoying the fun and challenge. Thanks to our A2 dancers for being so patient throughout the year whilst we were teaching.
Don’t forget the turkey has been purchased and the tatties are ready for peeling – look out “Xmas Get Together” – it seems to be on most people’s ‘places to be’ – it should be a great night.
SEPTEMBER 2011
August has seen the return of Mary & Tony from their 3 month trip around the countryside and the departure of Denice & Mike on their overseas travels and of course Jeanette has gone and returned once again in the blink of an eye. We welcomed Sylvia & Neal who came for a visit during the month. Our ‘Tribute to Elvis’ night was a lot of fun. It was great to have a visit from the man himself - complete with his stone encrusted suit, glittering cape and a ‘very serious’ Elvis hairdo. The songs were great fun and we even learnt a bit about each one that was performed. The peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and fried cheese & peanut butter sandwiches were surprisingly a big hit too. We are all enjoying the plus brackets and many moves seem to be coming naturally now too. More fun dates coming up in October and November too – check out dates to be remembered.
Southern Cross Plus had a great night on our Favourite Singing Call night with “Sinatra Medley” taking out the top honours. It was fun to listen to and sing along with some golden oldies and even enjoyed the ones that Howard hasn’t done for many, many years. Donna, Carl and Shannon joined us for a night of dancing at SCP while visiting from USA. Marilyn and Doona have both headed overseas and we wish them both a happy holiday. At Southern Cross ‘A’, we are starting to consolidate those moves we have already been taught and anxiously await the task of learning the remaining moves. September is birthday month at SCP and so we look forward to celebrating 21 years of dancing and friendship.
AUGUST 2011
Our 29th birthday at Crossroads was a great night. There were lots of visitors helping us to celebrate, including a bus load of dancers from JBs who come along each year to support us. It was great to have Mike, Janice, Ralph and Lorena come along and help out with the calling. Mary & Tony and Ray & Maya sent their best wishes, but they were unable to attend as theywere still enjoying their trip around the northern part of Australia. Thanks to everyone for helping to make it a successful night. Great supper, great cake, great fun & friendship and great dancing. Well done to Howard’s ‘demo’ set who graced the stage in the last bracket.
We had Ray & Maya return during the month from their holiday up north. It was a big surprise to get a visit from Diane and Catherine during the month while they were visiting from Adelaide. Oma was in her element entertaining Catherine while mummy had a dance.
SCA is still a lot of fun. We continue to appreciate the understanding and assistance from the more experienced dancers while our learning continues. We look forward to Mary & Tony’s return from holidays. Marilyn is heading overseas fow a while so she won’t be joining us for a while. We wish her & Jim a great holiday on their trip to the UK. Unfortunately we had to miss out on one of our nights due to my recent trip to New Zealand but we will be back and firing on all cylinders in August.
Our first night in July at SCP was a fun night with lots of dancers. We were lucky enough to have 3 nights this month and we have been having loads of fun with lots of visitors and regulars enjoying the fun of the dancing and the company. It was nice to have Janice and Des along recently and we also had a few of our Northern travellers back after the National, we still await the return of those lucky few who are still away. We have been lucky enough to have 3 cuers at the club with Carol, Coral & Adrian giving us dancing enjoyment. Our jackpot is building rapidly and as we head into August it will be hitting the $80 mark.
During the month we had a visit from Carl, Donna & Shannon who were visiting from West Virginia USA. They were out here for a work conference and we were lucky enough to have them come along.
Don’t forget to mark your diaries for the Steve Turner Dance in August see the ad over the page.
JULY 2011
The National Convention has come and gone and we would like to give huge congratulations to the Committee on presenting such a wonderful weekend of dance. Although the temperature was a little hot for me when dancing, I can’t argue about the fun and friendship we experienced. Brenda & I got to catch up with some of our interstate friends and have some great laughs. We also caught up with a number of our regulars who travelled to the Top End for the Convention and some of them are stilling travelling around the Territory enjoying the sights.
We also got to see some of the Top End when we did a four day tour prior to the Convention. We experienced a night at the Hawk Dreaming Wilderness Camp in Kakadu, a couple of river cruises and saw a number of crocodiles up close and personal. Katherine Gorge was a real highlight of our trip, what a magnificent sight to behold.
Our club nights have been few and far between during June as a result of the National. At Crossroads it was nice to see Joe back on his feet after a brief illness. We had lots of people away due to the Convention, and hopefully they are having a great time. Our favourite singing call was a good night with all singing calls getting one vote each so there was no out right winner. It was nice to have Max & Evelyn back after their recent trip to Bright and Jan back from her trip to Italy.
Our new dancers at SCA are going really well and Brenda is getting a little cocky (pardon the pun) and thought she would jump up at the A1 session at the National. She did pretty well too. A few of the newer ones are away travelling after the National, but I know they are keen to catch up and get back into it when they return from their travels.
Due to the National Convention & a mess up with hall bookings, we did not have any SCP in June so we will be back in July and I am sure we will continue to have some fun and challenging nights.
MAY 2011
We were saddened to hear the news of the passing of Arthur Greelish. Arthur and Val have been dancing with SCP & SCA for many years and have friends throughout the square dance world. Our condolenses go to Val & family during this difficult time. Our thoughts also are with Carol after the passing of her son through illness.
The National Convention in Darwin is not that far away and a number of our regulars have commenced their treck up north already. We wish them a safe trip and look forward to catching up with them at the National. A couple of our regular dancers are going through a tough time health wise and we wish them all well through these tough periods.
The A Level learners are all coming along very well and our experienced dancers are helping to keep them on track, so a big thanks to them. Our numbers will be down for the next month or so due to some of the dancers being away at the National or other functions. Check the dates over page for the nights we are closed.
Our nights at SCP have been quite a lot of fun with some of our newer plus dancers from Crossroads venturing down to give it a try. Due to the National Convention and a mess up with the hall bookings there will not be any SCP dance nights during June, our next dance night is not until 1st July. We extend our congratulations to Graham on becoming a grandad during the month.
Our “Give My Regards To Broadway” night at Crossroads was a bit of fun as we danced to show tunes that have graced the theatres of Broadway. We got to hear tunes from Phantom, Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Chicago and many more.
A number of us attended Jaybees 27th birthday celebrations. Congratulations to Mike, Lorraine & the Jaybee Dancers for a great day. It was nice to be part of the day.
APRIL 2011
Numbers have remained fairly constant this year which is nice to see, despite the rain that seems to plague us with some regularity on Wednesday nights. The first function for April, Brenda’s afternoon tea fundraiser for Relay for Life, was well attended and a really nice afternoon. Thanks to those who attended and also to those who couldn’t make who made a donation. Along with the recent raffle we raised $650. Harry was a very happy bunny after taking home the prize which was drawn on our Easter Bonnet night. Chocolate, curried eggs, carrot cake, bunny cakes and even hot cross pikelets were just some of the delicacies on offer on the night. It was nice to have Greg, Joe and Bernie along recently, hope you had a good night. It was lovely to see Maya after her recent stay in hospital. Hope to see you on the dance floor somewhere sometime.
‘A’ level learners are continuing to do well and only ending up in knots occasionally. SCP has welcomed some of the new graduates from the Werribee class, we look forward to a few others drifting along as their confidence increases. SCP luckily avoided a real FIZZER of a night when Brenda brought a long a tin of ‘Salvital’ instead of a tin of ‘Milo’. Thanks to Dennis for his generous donation of a tin of Fruit Saline the next week. Due to the Easter weekend, we only had one SCP night for the month.
The team for Relay for Life did another great job with members of the team walking over 650 laps (approximately 260 km) and raising over $8000 for cancer research. It is always great to be part of the team.
A few of our regulars are currently going through a tough time with their health and we wish them all a speedy recovery.
MARCH 2011
Our first night back at Crossroads was a good night, despite the warm weather, the air conditioner worked well. It was nice to have visitors Sylvia & Neil along on our first night. It is also nice to have Maureen and Jack coming along. We have been reinforcing what we have learned from last year with a number of movements being work-shopped over the past few weeks. In March we will be celebrating St Patrick’s Day on the eve with our St Patrick’s Day dance, come along in your best Irish green and bring along your most ingenious Irish supper.
On SCA’s first night we welcomed visitors Ros and Mark from SA on their way to Toukley. We have been lucky with the weather at the start of the year being milder than usual. A number of our regulars went to the A Level Weekend in Toukley and I am sure they had a great time. On our first night we had a big surprise when Arthur and Val turned up to the dance. Although Arthur didn’t dance on the first night, he did come along the following fortnight and surprised us all by dancing. What a great achievement in his recovery. We are looking forward to our 13th birthday celebrations in March and hope that you can join us.
Southern Cross Plus commenced the year on a good note with a fun night and from all reports it continued to our second night. We were pleased to welcome Lutz and Brigitte from Germany at our dance; they too seemed to have a good night. Thanks to Lyn and Adrian for taking Lutz and Brigitte back to their accommodation after the dance.
We will be commencing an ‘A Level’ learner’s class in March so if you are any other competent plus dancer would like to join we would love to have you along. Some of the ads we have distributed have a finish time of 10:30; however, the dance finishes at 10:00.
Check out the dancer hint section below you may find it interesting and informative.
DANCER HINT: From time to time I will be including hints and etiquette for dancers and with a new ‘A Level’ learners class commencing I thought it was timely to begin with the following hint:
Sometimes, when teaching a new movement, at the end of the teach section, an experienced or new dancer may think they are helping by giving up their position in the square for a newer dancer for the singing call. Unfortunately, this does not help as the newer dancer would not have been taught the movement or movements, therefore they will struggle and this may cause loss of confidence for them. I will always re-teach each movement more than once each night, so those who miss out on the first teach, will catch up on the second. So please do not invite a dancer who has not been taught the movement into the square.
FEBRUARY 2011
Brenda & I would like to wish everyone happy New Year and welcome back to square dancing 2011. Crossroads Christmas break up was a great night. Lots of dancers came along to help celebrate one of the first break ups for this year. Thanks to all our visitors for coming along, it was nice to see Graham McElligott returning to the club after many years if only as a visitor along with Maria. Thanks to Adrian for providing the cueing for the evening.
Our next break up was SCP and we had a packed hall. There were a number of regulars who were unable to attend due to other commitments. It was great to have Mike Davey and Janice Alexander come along and help with the program as I had come down with a severe case of tonsillitis. Once again Adrian provided the cueing. It was nice to see lots of visitors including some old regulars who have not been able to make it along for a while.
Our BBQ break up night was also great night, eventually! Brenda & I had the exterior of our house painted in the weeks prior, however, due to the continuing wet weather, the painting took far longer than we had anticipated and it had not been completed by the day of the BBQ. This meant that there was painting equipment in our garage. This was not a real problem, except that the heavy rain meant that the 30 of us had to cram into our garage with painting equipment and wardrobes. But despite all the lead up challengers, we had a great night. Thanks to everyone who braved the weather and came along to make it such a fun night.
The next night we then celebrated SCA’s Christmas break up. We had a number of visitors which helped to make it another good night. There was lots of Christmas food to keep our energy levels up between brackets.
Other than our own clubs, we also got to the Jaybee’s & Whitehorse Christmas break ups and had a great night at each one. We are looking forward to another good year at our clubs in 2011 and hope to see you all on the floor somewhere.
DECEMBER 2010
Christmas is just around the corner and another year has gone by so quickly. Due to work commitments and holidays we have had to cancel some of our club nights and we thank all our dancers for their understanding during these small breaks throughout the year.
During the year we celebrated 28 years of Crossroads, 20 years of SCP, 12 years of SCA and Brenda & I celebrated 30 years of square dancing back in October. Combined, our three clubs have completed 1,911 dance nights, which equates to a lot of singing calls and hoedowns called, tea, coffee and cordial consumed and lots of kilometres danced over the years. We would like to thank all those dancers, past and present, for helping us keep our clubs going for so many years. We would also like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we are looking forward to seeing you all in 2011.
Now it is time for the club news. Brenda & I would like to extend big congratulations to all our plus learners on completing the full plus program.
Our Reba, Rod & Randy night was a lot of fun with everyone getting into the spirit of the night by bringing supper beginning with ‘R’. We had Raisin Toast, Rock Cakes, Ripple Cake, Royals, Raspberry Lamingtons, Relaxing Chocolate Koalas and lots more.
It has been a quiet month for SCP & SCA as we only had one night for each club. A number of the “A” dancers were away attending a square dance weekend and we hope they had a great time. We received the shock news that Arthur Greelish had been taken to hospital. From reports we have heard, he is showing some positive signs and is even attempting to do a Sudoku puzzle, something Arthur always enjoyed doing. The specialists have said everything is going as they would expect at this time. Our thoughts and best wishes are with Val and family at this difficult time.
For 2011 we are releasing a calendar of events which show any special or theme nights or cancelled dance nights.
NOVEMBER 2010
Brenda and I both returned from our Paris trip with bad colds. But the trip was worth it. We had a great time and enjoyed ourselves immensely.
It was great to be back in our regular Crossroads hall for our first night back after our trip. Our plus learners are continue to enjoying the challeng and fun and should complete the plus program in time for our Christmas breakup. We have made a decision to return to 7:30pm start time and run alternate brackets of plus and mainstream.
On 17th November at Crossroads we will be celebrating the music of “Reba, Rod & Randy”. This will be a special singing call night featuring the music of Reba Mcentire, Rod Stewart & Randy Travis, so don’t miss out on that one.
It sounds like those who attended the Kelly Country Weekend had a great time and for those SCP regulars who remained in Melbourne experienced a stroll down memory lane with some old tunes. Congratulations to Annette who won the final jackpot for the year.
The nights at SCA have been going along well. It was great to have first time visitor Jenny to the club during last month, and hopefully she enjoyed it enough to return. We will all soon be enjoying the end of year dances and the annual wearing of the skirt with the holly print.
A few of us went and helped Whitehorse celebrate their birthday during October; it was the 58th birthday, a terrific achievement for a square dance club. Congratulations to Janice and Des for keeping the name “Whitehorse” going for so long. This was Janice’s 20th year at the helm of the club, and that too, is a terrific achievement.
Many of our travellers have returned only to see us farewell others in their midst. We look forward to the Christmas dances and our end of year barbecue before sitting back on our Christmas break and hoping we don’t forget how to dance.
11001100111100001100110011110000110000001010000011110000110000001010101010000000101000001111111110001000100000001000000011110000
|