Just to let you know I haven't forgotten you all I've updated the dance programme so you can see what  you're probably doing next week. I hope everything went well last night - one week to go and I'll be back; in the meantime I'm listening to my sister-in-law ringing the bells at her local church (with some help of course) while baby sitting my neice and their old english sheepdog puppy Mabel. Since Mabel is getting boisterous this is going to be short!

And it was over..... After all the preparation, the decorating, the table moving and everyone's hard work learning the dances it's now over until next year. I thought the Kamares Club surpassed themselves with the food; it is always good but this year it was superb and from overheard comments I'm sure most people are of the same opinion. The dancing went very well which shows how much people take in at the classes because I'm not sure if all my recaps made much sense (!) however we had at least 3 sets up for every dance with very little cajoling and very few break downs -  which is excellent for a night involving so much conviviality. The round the room dance 'Nice to see you' and The Glasgow Highlanders were the ones I especially enjoyed but all of the dances were enthusiastically performed. The Wind of Loch Fyne had the only really problem which was entirely my own fault - when you have a set made up entirely of ladies it does help to decide which  of you are dancing as men before you start!
Now it's onto the Christmas Ceilidh - just a couple of weeks away now and in the meantime there are 2 DIY nights which I hope you all enjoy - the Dance Programme for Tuesday class is still being posted on the website so don't worry you'll still be able to swot up before you go. 

There is so much going on it's hard to remember what has been done and what hasn't - so I almost forgot to Blether... and then I get e-mails from two different sources reminding me that people do actually read them; so here is this week's meanderings of the moment. Of course what is mainly taking up our time is preparations for the Ball - mine don't involve quite so much physical running around and negotiation as our social sec ends up doing (not to mention the pulling out of hair and screaming :-) ) but it is very time consuming and fiddly - there is also such a lot happening in the preparation of more future events at the same time - not only the Christmas Ceilidh which isn't far off now but Burns Night on Jan 21st which is going to be another excellent night and even looking towards the summer with exciting new options for events there. It's hard to even remember the last class, though it was as usual an excellent night, with slightly fewer attendee's making it a little less chaotic than recently but still enough for a round the room dance and 3 sets up nearly every dance; we yet again welcomed brand new people and valued returnees and got through the whole programme. During the break the class was brought up to speed about the 2017 International Branch Workshop Weekend and several people volunteered their services as drivers etc as well interest being shown in the workshop itself. Anyway I better get on with the hundreds of things still left to do ahhhhh ;-) See you on Tuesday and hopefully at the Ball as well. (BTW - if anyone would like to help us decorate the Kamares Club please join us there at 10 a.m on Friday - many hands make light work and we'll be glad to see you)

Two weeks ago I said we'd had the largest class I'd ever taken, now I'm repeating myself- this week was the largest class I've ever taken ;-) several times we had 4 sets dancing and we still had enough people sitting out to form a fifth. The 'round the room' dance was yet again danced around the room... with a little bit of furniture rearranging. It was a great atmosphere, we welcomed more newcomers, and also returning dancers who are again travelling all the way from Limassol to join us - even better they are going to join us for the Ball. The class numbers are always good at this time of year, but surprisingly it seem that our numbers are increasing independent of the approaching St Andrews Ball. There are plenty of ball tickets left which is very surprising because it is a truly super night even for people who are not confident dancers or who don't have a regular dancing partner. Kamares Club is an intimate venue for this type of event, there is often a roaring fire and they decorate beautifully which compliments our own, not to be disposed efforts. The food is amazing. We have a Scottish duo who fly over to provide live music and the dance programme is now deliberately kept simple to ensure everyone, whatever their level has a chance to dance. There is more I can say to whet the appetite, but some things can be kept for the night itself - suffice it to say that even non-dancers have an excellent night if they hanker for a Scottish atmosphere and who doesn't enjoy having something to dress up for! (Kilts and tartans are entirely optional) see HERE for pictures from previous balls. If people are worried they won't have anyone to dance with then organise a partner for your favourite dance beforehand at the  class - the ball programme is on the back of your ticket

It worked! Or it could just be that we had slightly fewer people in the class - but either way we had a really super night's dancing and for the first time for weeks we managed to complete the whole programme; since the programme included such favourites as Mairi's Wedding and The Duke of Perth, both of which we've been trying to do for weeks it was a very popular achievement. Congratulations are due to a lot of people - to P & C travelling all the way from Kyrenia to join us for the evening, to J & A who each managed to win a bottle of wine, to the talented souls who've agreed to provide an 'Act' for our Xmas Ceilidh night and to everyone who has already bought their St Andrew's Ball ticket, to our new ladies who survived the confusion of last week's session and came again to give it another go (and they were very good too), to B for being the first person to ever bring their own mop to a dancing class (and also for dancing a very good Mairi's Wedding) and finally to absolutely everyone who, thankfully,  managed to keep on their feet despite yet another week of an ice-rink instead of a floor. I could write more but I've masses to do - don't forget if you want to try the 'Advanced' class this Sunday, you are very welcome, whatever your current standard of dancing - just let me know before hand that you are planning to come - be prepared to work up to whatever level you feel capable of achieving - and watch the bits that are judged too tricky .