At the moment I am trying to blether with the aid of Oscar - our large fluffy ginger feline who obviously fancies himself as a critic and has parked himself on my lap within easy paw reach of the keyboard; since he is lovely and warm and the temperature here in the hills - though not quite down to UK levels - is decidedly chilly I am reluctant to dislodge him, but it is proving a challenge to concentration not least because two of our other three cats think they have ownership rights to my lap too. 
It has only just sunk in that this is the last day of January... the month that, by reputation, is supposed to drag drearily by has instead, shot past, despite the wettest, windiest January we've ever experienced here.  Burns' nights we attended were excellent, we've welcomed some lovely new members to the Society, my Monday beginners class has suddenly sprung to life, and we are already welcoming old friends back to the island, not every aspect of the month has been wonderful, we are missing several friends due to unfortunate circumstances, but it certainly hasn't dragged. P along with other committee members, has been preparing hard for the Society AGM on Saturday; I, of course, get dragged in when necessary. I've ended up printing, e-mailing and searching for lost paperwork rather than updating this site, but never mind; I am certainly not a fan of any type of meeting, despite being very aware of the importance of oversight and the need to exercise our democratic rights - use or lose doesn't just apply to brain and body - but the Society AGM is in fact an excellent event, it is very useful to the committee to take time out to  'review the situation' whether financial or social, it is also great to have time to talk, especially to members who aren't regulars at the dance sessions but still care about the society. If you are there on Saturday I hope you enjoy it, and if you can't make the AGM then I hope we will see you again next week Jx

After such dramatic weather last week it was a relief to be able to concentrate on teaching rather than mopping up the drips! We had a super night even though the dance success rate was definitely varied... my aspirations were perhaps a tad higher than they should have been, so we will adjust next week (larger classes are always more challenging for everyone - just keep smiling folks!).
We were delighted to welcome two new dancers to the class, hopefully the hurly burly of welcoming back returning members (and the steep learning curve there seems to be when you first turn up) didn't put them off - it is hopefully balanced by the general fun and friendliness of the class. See you next week, and don't forget to send your meal choices to Irene if you plan to come the the AGM - always a good social occasion don't be put off by the formal sound of it!

It was a very busy couple of days since the 'team' arrived at the Elea Club house before 10 am to start decorating the room, left to get beautiful themselves then reassembled at 6 pm to finalise the tables before guests started to flood in. It was a truly excellent night, the food was really good - it was honestly the best haggis I have every tasted - and everything else was equally tasty. The speeches were all beautifully presented and received as well as the singing and poetry - then a select few returned the next day to retrieve all decorations again... hard work but definitely worth it, many said it was the best Burns Night ever! See the photographs and other memories via the EVENTS -> PAST EVENTS page. Many thanks have to go to our Sponsors; Blevins Franks, Campbell's Shortbread and Elea Estates as well as all the wonderful and talents speakers and entertainers.

Another miserable night weather wise, it's amazing anyone turned up at all... but once they did we were toasty warm because the wonderful Allan had done a great job of getting the heaters fixed, in fact we had to turn the heating down after a few dances because we only had so many layers we could all take off! Unfortunately the unprecedented amount of wind and rain did provide an unfortunate distraction as water leaked in copious amounts through one of the windows and amazingly started to ooze up through some of the floor boards... not quite as startling as it sounds since it was in front of the 'middle' doors and was almost certainly because water blown under the door was tracking under the laminate until it found a gap ... but we haven't seen this happen before, so it reflects on the amount of rain pouring down on us tonight, and won't have done the floor any good. Never mind we just danced on, but with so many distractions - welcoming people back - collecting Burns Night tickets - membership renewals - and the continuing rain we gradually lost momentum and made an early night of it - I am looking forward to seeing many of you on Saturday at Burns Night at the Elea Golf Club, always an excellent night - and if not, hopefully it will be better weather by next week and we'll all be back to normal at the class.

Brrrr.... well it was a wickedly cold start to our 2019 season but there was a excellent turn out considering it was such a wild, windy and miserably wet night - and those who were dancing soon warmed up (though the stalwarts covering the door and tackling the complexities of membership renewals and burns night tickets along with the usual chaos of returning after a break, needed serious defrosting by the end of the night) . It was lovely to welcome some of our more occasional dancers back for the night, as well as a fair proportion of our regulars, even though quite a few were absent from ranks - inevitable given the weather and season. The programme went really well with 2 or 3 sets up virtually every time despite the number of new or unfamiliar dances. Both the completely new dances to the class ('Mrs Macleod' and the 7 couple 'Christmas at the Heath') were great successes, and will definitely appear many times on future programmes - others, such as MacDonald of the Isles and The Burns' Bicentenary Strathspey, haven't appeared on the programme for a long time, but are definitely going to be reinstalled as staples for Tuesdays. Overall it was a great start to the new season. I look forward to seeing even more of you next week - and don't forget about getting your tickets for Burns Night - there are still tickets available - details and menu can be seen HERE (please note that a vegetarian option is available in addition to the advertised menu ) please contact Irene for you bookings and to let her know of your meal choices.