In January 2019 Barry and Erin from Stumpy Oak were asked to play for the Bury St Edmunds Scottish Reel Club’s Burns night supper and dance. They were joined by the club’s own dance tutor, Alison Giles who is an experienced Scottish dance teacher and a great, patient ceilidh caller. The Scottish Reel Club meets weekly at the Anselm Community Centre.
This was a public event so not everyone was familiar with reeling dances. Alison called a mixture of well known Scottish ceilidh dances (including Gay Gordons and Canadian Barn Dance) plus some easier reeling dances. Regular members of the club also performed a couple of display dances (The Highland Rambler and Falls of Rogie) that they had been learning with Alison at the club sessions.
In a break from the dancing, club members put on a lovely Scottish themed buffet which included both meat and veggie haggis, tablet (Scottish fudge) and a small shot of whisky (or Irn Bru for the designated drivers!)
Barry and Erin really enjoyed working with Alison and relished the chance to play for the Scottish dancing and learn some new tunes.
Stumpy Oak love playing for Burn’s night events and still have (limited) availability late January/early February 2020 for anyone wishing to plan a traditional winter get-together. You can contact the band through their page on Ceilidh Network – https://www.ceilidhnetwork.com/bands/stumpy-oak/
To get you in the appropriate mood, here’s a clip of us playing our tune for Canadian Barn Dance in December 2018: