Photo Gallery:
This is our group, taken at our breakup party at the end of November 2009
Meet our teachers, Ronda Ovenden (on left) and
Heather Heron (on right). Heather gained her full teaching certificate at examinations held in conjunction with the New Zealand SCD Summer School in January 2014. (Photo of certificate later in this gallery.)
In March 2007 the Cleveland group was joined by dancers from a number of other clubs so that we were able to put four sets on the lawns of Ormiston House for the annual Highland Gathering.
Demonstration dancing on the lawns of magnificent Ormiston House at the Highland Celtic Day in March 2008. Again we were joined by some dancers from other clubs.
Our group dancing at McPherson Park, Bracken Ridge, at a picnic day organised by the miniature steam train club, with guest dancer Neil MacKenzie (purple and green shirt), one of the train drivers, in September 2010.
Members dancing Domino 5 at RSL Moreton Shores Aged Care Centre at Thornlands on 18 October 2010, for a very appreciative audience of "oldies".
We were invited to perform at the Sandgate Uniting Church on Wednesday, 22 December 2010 as part of their Christmas Lights celebration, and this is the sight that greeted us.
If you are ever in their vicinity during the week before Christmas, do drop in. There is entertainment every night, and food can be purchased.
Dancing "Ian Powrie's Farewell to Auchterarder" at Sandgate Uniting Church, December 2010.
Our group receiving a great round of applause from the members and visitors of the Sandgate Uniting Church at the conclusion of our Scottish Country Dance demonstration, which lasted for almost an hour.
Each year, usually towards the end of February, before classes resume on the first Friday in March, our group gets together for a day or two of fun activities. In 2009 and again this year, 2011, we met at Lilyponds Holiday Park for the weekend 25-27 February, and walked, talked and dined together. This is our group just after our Saturday late afternoon BBQ dinner, before heading up to the Mapleton Community Hall for a night of dance, with visitors from other dance clubs around the Sunshine Coast area.
Some of the dancers at our social in the Mapleton Community Hall on Saturday night, 26 February 2011, dancing to music played by Bruce Mitchell on accordion and Baden Mitchell on keyboard.
On Sunday, 17 April 2011 one set of our dancers attended the Annual Fete at the Prinz Willem Retirement Village (usually called the Dutch Villlage) in Collingwood Road at Birkdale to demonstrate our style of dancing for residents and visitors.
This picture shows the final four bars of the dance named "Seton's Ceilidh Band" - note the different styles of turning your partner!!
This picture shows the final four bars of the dance named "Seton's Ceilidh Band" - note the different styles of turning your partner!!
We were requested, as part of our 30 minute time slot at the Dutch Village, to organise some participation dancing. This involved demonstrating the dance "Come to the Ceilidh", then inviting audience members to join us. We did a few walk-throughs of the dance to familiarise the participants, and then the music was turned on. What a wonderful afternoon!
On Sunday, 15 May 2011, our group was again invited to demonstrate Scottish Country Dancing at the Highland Celtic Celebration at historic Ormiston House in Wellington Street, Ormiston.
Pipe Major Roy McQueen of the Redlands Sporting Club Pipe Band kindly piped us out onto the lawns for our dance demonstration.
This photo is taken looking back towards the verandahs of Ormiston House, and shows some of our group demonstrating the dance "Trip to Bavaria" 15 May 2011.
A photo of other members of our group, looking from the verandahs of Ormiston House towards the blue waters of Moreton Bay, showing us dancing the strathspey "Ship of Grace", 15 May 2011.
On Saturday, 10 September 2011, our group was asked by the Wynnum-Manly Historical Society at their "Our Scottish Connections" Day to demonstrate Scottish Country Dancing at the heritage listed Lota House. It was a cold, wet and windy day, as you can see from the clothing worn!
This is our group enjoying some hospitality prior to their performance. In fact, apart from a sole Highland Bagpiper (you can just see him in the background), we were the entertainment!
This is our group enjoying some hospitality prior to their performance. In fact, apart from a sole Highland Bagpiper (you can just see him in the background), we were the entertainment!
The weather outside was quite horrible. Luckily, our display was conducted inside.
The dances we did were The Blooms of Bon Accord, The Rothesay Rant, MacDonald of the Isles, The Machine Without Horses, Ship of Grace, and Domino 5. Heather Heron explained to the Historical Society members the history of each of the dances, some of which dated back to 1792. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon immensely.
The dances we did were The Blooms of Bon Accord, The Rothesay Rant, MacDonald of the Isles, The Machine Without Horses, Ship of Grace, and Domino 5. Heather Heron explained to the Historical Society members the history of each of the dances, some of which dated back to 1792. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon immensely.
This is our group doing one of over 20 of our most popular dances on our final class night and Christmas break-up party on Friday, 25 November 2011.
A sumptuous feast followed to help replace all the calories (kilojoules - if you are of the modern era) we burned off earlier with our dancing!
A shot of our group at our Christmas break-up party on Friday, 25 November 2011 (minus Sarah, who was taking the photo!)
Our group was again invited to the Sandgate Uniting Church to demonstrate our pet hobby of Scottish Country Dancing on Wednesday night, 21 December 2011. We filled in our one-hour time slot doing a mixture of "once-and-to-the-bottom" dances, 12 in number, and had a great time before a very appreciative audience.
Here two sets are dancing "Postie's Jig", and having lots of fun, as you can see by the smiles!
Here two sets are dancing "Postie's Jig", and having lots of fun, as you can see by the smiles!
This is just a small part of the magnificent 2011 Christmas lights spectacularly displayed at the Sandgate Uniting Church where we did a one hour demonstration of Scottish Country Dancing on 21 December 2011.
There is also a photo of the front of the Sandgate church taken on a very stormy night in December 2010 in this gallery. Their display just keeps getting better and better!
On 22 April 2012 we were once again invited to demonstrate Scottish Country dancing at the Highland/Celtic Gathering at Ormiston House. The weather was just perfect, the spectators very appreciative, and we enjoyed ourselves. After the demo, we were treated to a cuppa and scones - very delicious!
In July each year Tartan Day is celebrated. This year (2012) Scottish Country Dancers from South East Queensland performed in King George Square. The two couples in the foreground are members of our group.
On Saturday, 4 August 2012 Cleveland Scottish Country Dance group entertained the "oldies" of Wirunya Blue Care Hostel at Carbrook. Here we are dancing "Celtic Cross", a very beautiful strathspey.
After our demo, we enjoyed a great cuppa and cake with the Diversional Therapist, who took this photo of our group.
On Friday night, 28 September 2012, our group, together with the MacKenzie family and friends, held a ceilidh to celebrate the life of one of our previous dancers, Jeanette Clarke (nee MacKenzie) who passed away aged just 48 in Cooloola Cove near Tin Can Bay where she and her husband Bill had been living for some years.
The group is shown dancing "Our Missing Friend" in tribute to Jeanette. The dance was written by Sam Heron (in the red/mauve kilt) in 2001 for seven dancers, instead of the usual eight, to show how much one is missed.
The group is shown dancing "Our Missing Friend" in tribute to Jeanette. The dance was written by Sam Heron (in the red/mauve kilt) in 2001 for seven dancers, instead of the usual eight, to show how much one is missed.
As can be seen, not all our dancing is Scottish. Some of us even excel at German. Here some of ladies are reliving Expo 88 doing the "Chicken Dance" at Jeanette Clarke's celebratory ceilidh on Friday, 28 September 2012!!
In October 2012 at the Donald Simpson Centre in Cleveland we performed six short dances at an Aussie Heritage concert organised by a TAFE student as part of her Events Co-ordinator course. There was some amazing talent on display: bush poetry, Australian ballads, Irish singers.
We were blessed to have Elma and Frank MacRae play the music for Celtic Cross, Garry Strathspey, Seton's Ceilidh Band, Black Bear, Mairi's Wedding and Postie's Jig. As we did each dance twice through only, we were able to fit all six dances into our time slot. It was great fun.
We were blessed to have Elma and Frank MacRae play the music for Celtic Cross, Garry Strathspey, Seton's Ceilidh Band, Black Bear, Mairi's Wedding and Postie's Jig. As we did each dance twice through only, we were able to fit all six dances into our time slot. It was great fun.
Sarah Ashby, one of our dancers (and a part-time class teacher) in June 2012 sat for and passed her examination to qualify her as a fully certificated Royal Scottish Country Dance Society teacher, and doesn't she look happy about that! Well done, Sarah! We look forward to having her teach us some new and exciting dances.
These are the colourful lights at the Sandgate Uniting Church, where we were once again privileged to perform our selection of Scottish country dances on Friday night, 21 December 2012. Even though the night was very warm and humid, the dancers enjoyed entertaining, and the audience again was very appreciative.
Our set is dancing Miss Johnstone of Ardrossan, a 5-couple reel, and we were very ably helped out by some vivacious and pretty young ladies, who did not seem to feel the heat one little bit at the Sandgate Uniting Church Christmas lights celebration on Friday, 21 December 2012.
Our two sets marching on to the tune of "Scotland the Brave" played by a member of the Ormiston Heritage Pipes and Drums at Ormiston House on Sunday, 28 April 2013. The weather could not have been more perfect.
Here we are dancing Rothesay Rant, with the blue waters of Moreton Bay and the hills of North Stradbroke Island in the background. Other dances were Celtic Cross, Seton's Ceilidh Band and Byron Strathspey
While we were enjoying our cuppa and scone after the demo, we were serenaded by the
a'-capella Bayside Harmony group singing the old Ricky Nelson hit "Hello Mary Lou", followed by "Gonna Take a Sentimental Journey" - absolutely wonderful!
a'-capella Bayside Harmony group singing the old Ricky Nelson hit "Hello Mary Lou", followed by "Gonna Take a Sentimental Journey" - absolutely wonderful!
Ronda and Peter Ovenden, who started the Cleveland Scottish Country Dance group 40 years ago, cut the anniversary cake at our celebration in the Redlands Memorial Hall on Saturday, 15 June 2013.
Their younger daughter Kerry and some of their grand-children can be seen in the background.
Here we have Cleveland Scottish Country dancers, past and present, who joined in the 40th anniversary celebration.
Many dancers from clubs throughout South East Queensland also attended our wonderful night - in fact, about 80 of us, all-told
On Saturday, 5 October 2013 a group of our dancers attended at the Regis Nursing Home, Boronia Heights, where Stella Brown, a long-term member, is now residing. As she now cannot attend our Friday night classes, we took the dancing to her and other residents of the village.
This shows Stella (far left) participating in one of our favourite dances, The Celtic Cross.
This shows Stella (far left) participating in one of our favourite dances, The Celtic Cross.
And here we have Stella cutting her birthday cake at her surprise party at the nursing home!!
On Friday, 30 November 2013 we had our last dance night of the year, when we danced many of our favourite reels, jigs and strathspeys, finishing the evening with The Shepherd's Crook, as has been the tradition for many, many years.
Following the dancing, we partook of a very sumptuous supper.
This photo shows just some of the dancers...it was great to see so many "littlies" on the floor during the evening.
Following the dancing, we partook of a very sumptuous supper.
This photo shows just some of the dancers...it was great to see so many "littlies" on the floor during the evening.
This is our group shot taken at our last dance night on Friday, 30 November 2013 (missing is the photographer, Jim, as also are most of the "littlies" who were just a wee tad tired).
On Friday, 20 December 2013, for the fourth consecutive year, we were invited to perform our one-hour Scottish Country dance display at the Sandgate Uniting Church. This shot is of the group after the last dance when we were given our somewhat hard-earned applause!!!
The Sandgate Uniting Church has again put on a wonderful Christmas lights display in 2013 - it just gets better each year!
Heather Heron proudly displays her full teachers certificate from the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society which she achieved at examinations carried out during the New Zealand SCD Summer School over the Christmas/New Year period 2013-14.
Our group at our first class night in the new venue, the St James' Anglican Church hall in Station Street, Wellington Point on Friday, 28 February 2014, with Heather Heron in the centre with her certificate. (Heather's husband Sam is missing from the pic because he was behind the camera.)
On Sunday, 30 March 2014, we were again invited to demonstrate Scottish country dancing at the Highland and Celtic Gathering at Ormiston House in Wellington Street, Ormiston. Our two sets did four dances in our allocated slot: this shot shows us dancing Trip to Bavaria. We also danced the strathspey Celtic Cross, and the reel Scot Meikle and Andrew and Gordon's Jig
Here we are shown walking off after our demo at Ormiston House in 2014, led by Lois and Sam. Spectator numbers were down this year as there were warnings issued by the Bureau of Meteorology of severe storms predicted to hit this area around the same time as our demo! Guess what? The rain did not arrive until a couple of hours afterwards! We always have fun dancing at Ormiston House, coz we weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not! AND they give us a cuppa and scone afterwards too!
Graham Trinder, one of nature’s true gentlemen, passed away on Wednesday morning, 30 April 2014, in St Vincent’s Hospital, Brisbane. Graham started SCD-ing in 2000 with the Clan MacKenzie group at Tarragindi, taking to it most heartily, then adding himself to the Cleveland group from about 2008. He was a very keen dancer, attending most Branch events and club socials; in fact, within a couple of years of starting dancing and joining the Qld Branch, he took on the role of Editor of The Ramble magazine, and doing a great job of it. Graham participated in quite a number of dance demonstrations with his partner, Else Ewen.
Graham's funeral service was held at St Alban's Anglican Church, Wilston, on Monday, 5 May 2014. About two dozen members of the Scottish Country Dance community attended and formed a guard of honour for Graham as he was taken from the church after the service.
On Sunday afternoon, 9 November 2014, a group of dancers attended a high tea at Ormiston House, where we were presented with a Certificate of Appreciation for the years when we have provided demonstrations of Scottish Country dancing at the annual Highland Celtic Gatherings. Sadly, the Highland Celtic days have been discontinued for the foreseeable future.
Our final night for 2014, Friday 28 November, saw us having a great social programme of favourite dances. The stars of the night were Fiona (red blouse) dancing "Domino 5" with the little ladies. Grannie is the lady in white (Ronda Ovenden) in the bottom right-hand corner, carefully checking the footwork!!
Our group photograph on our last night of dancing for 2014, minus Fiona who took this pic. Flora, the lady in white with the large green Christmas hat on, will be celebrating her 90th birthday in January 2015 with a social dance night at the Wonargo Hall in Nundah. Just shows how good for your health Scottish country dancing is!!!!
Here is Flora on Wednesday night, 14 January 2015, at the Wonargo Hall in Nundah, preparing to blow out her candles and cut the cake....luckily, she did not have to blow out 90 individual candles, as she had a slight problem with just two!!!! This was a night of Scottish Country dancing, consisting of Flora's favourite dances. Flora even danced "Australian Ladies" twice through at 90 years of age!!! Those attending provided a wonderful supper, and a great night was had by all, even though it was a tad warm.
Over the weekend of 14-15 February 2015, a large number of our dance group travelled to Caloundra on Queensland's Sunshine Coast to enjoy some time together before classes resumed on the first Friday in March 2015. On the Saturday morning, Heather Heron conducted a dance class, teaching us some interesting dances. Late in the afternoon we all met at the caravan park where most of the group was staying and enjoyed a BBQ prepared by Peter Ovenden. Naturally, we all brought a plate of food to share too. Then at 7.30pm we went back to the hall for a night of popular dances. We were joined by a few dancers from other clubs in the region, namely Noosa and Gympie. A great night was had by all!
At our Caloundra weekend away, Flora again got to celebrate her 90th birthday with morning tea (we ate her birthday cake, naturally!), the calories/kilojoules from which we worked off a few minutes later under Heather Heron's tutilage.
On Saturday, 22 August 2015, we were invited to demonstrate SCD at the Bluecare Bayside Gardens Centre (formerly Pleasantville Nursing Centre) for their Village on the Green Festival/Fete, held in celebration of Seniors Week, where we demonstrated four dances. The above photo shows us dancing "Posties Jig". Showers were predicted, but we got through without getting wet, and enjoyed a sausage sizzle afterwards. As usual, we had a ton of fun!
On Tuesday morning, 8 September 2015, nine of us travelled to the Mary Damian Centre at Banyo where we entertained the "oldies" for about an hour with various jigs, reels and strathspeys. Our teacher Heather has an aunt residing in the centre, and she invited all her friends along. The above photo shows five of the ladies dancing "Domino 5" to the music of the Balgeddie Reel. A great time was had by all, and the "oldies" clapped along with the music. Heather and Sam put on a wonderful brunch afterwards to replace at least some of the kilojoules (or calories, if you are of that vintage) we burned off. Guess what? We have been invited back too, so we must have done OK!!!
Our final dance night at the end of November 2015 was thoroughly enjoyed by all, with the usual sumptuous supper. We even had a visitor from New Zealand join us for the night, Dalwyn (second back row, second from right). Our teacher for the night, Heather Heron, is absent from the photo as she was behind the camera. We definitely need a time set camera!
Well, guess what, on Wednesday, 27 July 2016, we did get invited back to the Mary Damian Centre for the Aged at Banyo, where we again did about ten dances to demonstrate Scottish Country dancing for the "oldies" (maybe I should point out that two of our dancers on the day, Flora and Else, are aged 91 and 83 respectively, and respectfully, of course!!!). The dances we did were ones with good music that the audience could clap along with, or at least tap their toes. We also purloined a couple of the carers to help us out with a demo of "Come to the Ceilidh" . Following the demo, Heather and Sam (the dancing couple in the above photo) put on a marvellous brunch to help rejuvenate the dancers.
We were invited to do a demonstration of Scottish Country dancing at the Anglican Parish of Waterloo Bay annual fair on Saturday, 6 August 2016, at St George's Church in Birkdale. Our two demo dances were Seton's Ceilidh Band and the strathspey The Celtic Cross. Four of the dancers are parishioners from St James' Church in the same parish. The above photo shows us turning right hands in Seton's Ceilidh Band dance.
Following our two demonstration dances at the Waterloo Bay Parish Fair on Saturday, 6 August 2016, we asked if the spectators would like to learn a Scottish Countr dance named Come to the Ceilidh. We were almost overwhelmed with the response, as 24 dancers took to the field, including some of the ones in the red jackets who had just performed with the Redlands Ladies Drum Corps. Everyone seemed to enjoy the experience, and a couple of the participants are very interested in joining our group soon.
On Friday, 18 November 2016, we had our final class-cum-ceilidh for the year, where various members of the group selected favourite dances for the evening. Then we enjoyed the usual sumptuous non-calorific supper to replace kilojoules we had lost during the dancing. Not all the group is shown in the above photo as some had to leave earlier, and photographer Sam was behind the camera.
On our last night of dancing for 2016, we included one of our favourite dances, MacDonald of the Isles, and Fiona's three daughters (in the right hand set) joined in, with a little help from a couple of friends. A wonderful night was enjoyed by all.
On Saturday, 7 October 2017, a number of our group visited one of our former dancers, Stella Brown, to help her celebrate her 90th birthday at the Regis Nursing Home at Boronia Heights near Beenleigh. Though her actual birthday was the next day, Sunday, nevertheless, a beautiful cake was provided. Stella cuts her birthday cake, ably supervised by Heather New.
Stella's favourite dance is called Mairi's Wedding. With a little assistance from some of her friends, she was able to participate. When the group arrived at the Nursing Home, Stella immediately bolted to find her dancing slippers, and was quite upset when she could find only one. However, one of the nurses quickly came to the rescue so that Stella could dance.
Along with many other ethnic groups, in September 2019 we demonstrated a few Scottish Country dances again at the 4EB Multicultural Festival at Kangaroo Point.
This dance is a strathspey named The Celtic Cross, a favourite of the Clevelanders. We also enjoyed a sample of many different ethnic delicacies for lunch.
This dance is a strathspey named The Celtic Cross, a favourite of the Clevelanders. We also enjoyed a sample of many different ethnic delicacies for lunch.
In June 2019 the Queensland Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society organised a weekend of dance at Kingscliff in Northern New South Wales. Dancers came from SE Queensland and Northern NSW to enjoy the teaching of Ros MacKie and the live music provided by The Black Bear Duo.
This photo shows the Clevelanders who attended the Saturday night social with a Hollywood theme....lots of fun!
This photo shows the Clevelanders who attended the Saturday night social with a Hollywood theme....lots of fun!
In June 2021, after the 2020 weekend of dance was cancelled due to Covid, we finally made it back to Kingscliff NSW for a right regal time, tiaras et al. As Melbourne was then in lockdown, the gazetted teacher was unable to attend, so local teachers took us though our paces, backed up by the Black Bear Duo's marvellous music.