Guildford Scottish Country Dance Club
Our History
The Guildford Scottish Country Dance Club was born out of the West Surrey Scottish Dancing Group, formed in the 1950's by Captain Oswald Meredith. A former naval officer, Oswald believed in doing things thoroughly, so he gained his Teaching Certificate and always encouraged members to dance well. The atmosphere was friendly and sociable but, as a private club, it remained “couples only” until 2002! The group ran two dinner dances each year, usually held at the Huts Hotel, Hindhead.
In 1971 Walter McLaren took over the reins when Oswald and his wife moved to Spain. Walter organised the dances and instruction, Howard Dorey the music and Keith Blake the accounts. This was not a formal committee, but guest teachers were invited, membership grew, and the Club continued to run dinner dances and an annual ball for some time.
After 31 years, in 2002 Walter handed over to Paul Plummer, who had the intention of setting up a formally constituted Club. Paul was instrumental in forming the structure of the Club as it exists today. Under the name of Guildford Scottish Country Dance Club, the first AGM was held in March 2004, at which a constitution was adopted and a committee elected, with Roger Hills, who had been acting as Social Secretary, being the first Chairman and Catherine Smith the Secretary. Links to the Constitution and previous Committees can be found below.
Paul continued to be the sole MC and kept the dancing standard high by asking for a certain level of competence from prospective members. To this end he also set up and taught beginner and intermediate classes in Guildford. This brought new dancers to the club, as did the end of the ‘Couples only’ requirement, and the closure of both the Guildford Reel Club and other local clubs when the leaders retired. Our members are attracted from a wide area and many also dance at their local clubs.
In 2007 four volunteers from the Membership: John Clack, Colin Duncan, Peter Loveland and Catherine Smith started taking over Paul’s MCing duties and he finally stepped down in 2009 though he remains a club member. Over the years, Margret Plummer helped and then left the area, Catherine departed and then returned, Colin moved away, and Mike Anning joined the team. Our MCs are the core of our regular dancing.
For nearly seven decades a Scottish Country Dancing club has held weekly meetings on Monday evenings at Onslow Village Hall. These now include several Live Music and Social events, and we have had an annual Spring Dance in Normandy Village Hall, often with a visiting band from Scotland, since 2006.
The 2019-20 season came to a premature end due to the coronavirus pandemic, but we maintained contact with some social and educational events via zoom. There was some reduction in numbers at that time, but we have since welcomed new dancers and the club continues to thrive, with around 60 Members, plus regular guests, attending some 40 club evenings each year, of which six are special events, plus a Garden dance in the summer and our annual Spring Dance.