BMC Subscription Ball 2011

Maitland Town Hall
Saturday, 27 August 2011

Note early start time (to allow for midnight finish):
Starts at 6:30 for 7:00pm

Wonderful dance music provided by The Coalbrook Band
featuring Helen, Greg, Jennifer & Catherine Strutt, plus Chris Duncan and Bob McInnes

• Dance Instructions now available for downloading (new version available correcting Kilfenora Figure 4, and a few minor errors).
• Dance Reminder Sheet - 2 A4 pages with abbreviated instructions (and a landscape format version of the Dance Reminder Sheet).

General Information

The Bush Music Club holds its Colonial-style Subscription Ball in August each year. For many years this has been held in Maitland Town Hall, in part because there is a dedicated band of Newcastle dancers who have willingly taken on the organisational role, and partly because the Maitland Town Hall has one of the best sprung dance floors in the country. Visit the BMC's Website for more information.

The musical line up for the Ball has, for many years, been the Coalbrook Band who have handled the large diversity in musical styles with great accomplishment. Again this year we will enjoy the musical talents of the entire Strutt family (Helen & Greg, Jennifer & Catherine) plus the combined fiddle expertise of Bob McInnes and Chris Duncan. A little touch of Irish, a solid base of Scottish, Colonial expertise to burn, some Scandinavian influences, 17th English - and who knows what other surprises may be in store for us?

Here's a photo by Mike Young showing action at the 2009 BMC Subscription Ball so you can see what to expect. It is a wonderful photo showing the next generation taking up the cause.

Dancers seen above come from Sydney, Canberra, the Southern Highlands, the Central Coast & Newcastle. Note the great hand drawn decorations prepared especially for this venue by Julia Regent (just below the lights on the wall). Someone commented that they thought this was normal decorations provided by the Council, but this is one of the many little touches that the hard-working committee uses to make this a wonderful and memorable weekend.

Dance Program

The provisional list of dances for this year's ball is: Australian Ladies, Belgian Waltz, Caledonians Quadrille, Duke of Kent’s Waltz, Figure of Eight (Rhif Wyth), Gypsy Tap, Hole in the Wall, Jacaranda Dance, Janet’s Delight, Kilfenora Plain Set (figs 1, 2, 4, 6), La Rinka , La Russe Quadrille, Maxina, Mississippi Dip , Offa’s Dyke (Clawdd Offa), Queen of Sheba, Reel of the 51st Division, Rozsas Waltz, Royal Irish Quadrille, Veleta, Walpole Cottage, Waltz Cotillon (and spares: Swing Waltz & Polka Quadrille).

Dance Instructions

We have prepared an 14-page set of relatively full instructions [in Adobe PDF format] for you to download to prepare for the Ball.

Some of these dances can't really be learned from written instructions so we encourage you to attend at least one practice. Not only will you learn some of the subtleties of the various dances, but these days are also a lot of fun. Make a day of it, bring your lunch and enjoy the company of your fellow Ball attendees in a relaxed atmosphere.

Practices

Attendance at practices is highly recommended!

Dates & venues for practices:

BBQ & Recovery Picnic

Sunday, 28th August 2011 - 11.00 am to 4.00 pm
Heritage Shed, Speers Point Park. BYO Chair & drinks.
Adult $10.00, children $5.00

BBQ/picnic including use of the Heritage Hall at Speers Point Park for some dancing (as much as tired feet might allow). There will be plenty of food and good company. Speers Point Park is on the north-western tip of Lake Macquarie and has wonderful views of the Lake, a quiet, safe setting with play areas for the kids, and with the hall booked plenty of room undercover in case we have inclement weather. It is also only 15 minutes from the Toronto entry to the Freeway meaning you would have about an hours' journey to the outskirts of Sydney for your return trip.

Prices:

Regular $55 / Non-Dancers $45
Early bird (payment received on or before the date of the first practice) $45
Student concession $35
Non-Dancer $45

Sunday - Catered BBQ picnic $10

For catering purposes all tickets should be pre-booked.

Cheques should be made payable to "Hunter Folk Dancers" - post to Bill Propert, 26 Croft Rd, Eleebana NSW 2282. Direct deposits to "Hunter Folk Dancers", BSB 650000 Account No. 813041205. Make sure you put your name in the "Reference" (or similar) field so we know who the payment is from. More information will follow.

Accommodation:

• [1, 2] Best Western Endeavour East Maitland. http://endeavour.bestwestern.com.au/
• [1, 2] Old George & Dragon Guesthouse, East Maitland. http://www.oldgeorgedragonguesthouse.com.au/
• [1] Old Maitland Inn (but not old!), Rutherford (W of Maitland). http://www.oldmaitlandinn.com.au/
• [2] Molly Morgan Motor Inn East Maitland. Convenient to Newcastle Airport bus link. http://www.mollymorganmi.com.au/
• [2] Red Lion Inn (B&B), East Maitland. http://www.redlioninn.com.au/

[1] Recommended in previous years
[2] Short taxi trip to Maitland Town Hall

Transport:

• Airport One Shuttle Service - pickups by arrangement. http://www.airportoneshuttle.com.au/
• Hunter Valley Buses – Timetables and Maps. Route 145 Newcastle Airport to Green Hills (& E Maitland). http://www.cdcbus.com.au/Hunter-Valley-Buses.html
• Newcastle Airport - direct flights from Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and connections to Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Darwin, etc. http://www.newcastleairport.com.au/page421/Airlines.aspx

The Final Word:

We can't reiterate strongly enough...
Everyone benefits by your attendance at the practices. We can all then relax and not have to teach the dances while they are in progress!

Regards,
Arthur Kingsland
Newcastle Irish Set Dancers / Newcastle & Hunter Valley Folk Club

Ball Enquiries

For more information contact 
      Bill Propert: (02) 4946 5602 / (Newcastle)
      Colin Fong (02) 9716 9660 (Sydney)
      W: <http://users.tpg.com.au/juliasm/BMC-Ball/>
      See also: the Bush Music Club's Website <http://www.bushmusic.org.au/>