BURNS CEILIDH 1 - THE DANCE

We had a great night in the Masonic Hall in Alexandria on the occasion of the Scottish Mountaineering Club Burns Ceilidh. Curly Ross is crucial to the staging of this event as well as to the culture of it!

He and his band - Glenhoulachan Midgie Club Ceilidh Band website here - were in great form and are on the stage in the background. (Unfortunately photos of Curly & Co. are unusable!)

The pick of the bunch is Andrew and Louise half-way down the hall in the Orkney Strip-the-Willow!

The Canadian Barn Dance with Iain and Maggie in the right foreground. May I say, in case you didn't know, this is a dance that has never seen the light of day in Canada. Why the name? I have no idea, but it is an all-time favourite. (It is very embarassing for Canadians, especially Canadian visitors, as they get dragged on to the floor, absolutely clueless as to what to do!)

There's no show without Punch, as they say, and here he is in the hall warming up his pipes for an Eightsome Reel as the penultimate dance of the evening.

This Eightsome circle, with Iain on the stage in the background, has one figure in it of interest to me. It's the young lad in the pink tie. As a kid he was always brought along on weekend meets by Mum and Dad. He was the youngest of 4 (I think). Anyhow, my memory of him is on the occasion of Iain's last Munro in 1993. He was about 9 years old. As usual, our Intrepid Leader (and on this occasion, everyone else) were ahead. He and I found ourselves as Tail End Charlies approaching the top of Ben Fhionnlaidh. [See here. Click on the blue mountain symbol and also the satellite link!]

Anyhow, where was I?! The others (50 or so) must have been near the top as this lad and I made our way up snow steps. More's the point: there was not a soul in sight. (That is a situation I do not like...) And, as usual, my thoughts were once again ... "Don't think about it .... Just one more - or maybe a hundred? - 'steam pudding' hump(s) to get over; the top had to be up there somewhere!"