February 2012
Best wishes to everybody for a wonderful 2012 and we invite all dancers to visit us for a fun night of dancing every Tuesday night. Opening night for dancing will be 7Th February and we look forward to seeing you there.
Our last themed night for 2011 involved us celebrating all things Scottish with our St Andrew’s night on 29 November. We all dressed up in our Scottish garb – some looking a little uncomfortable showing their legs under their kilts – but Bob showed his proud heritage in his attire. Our Christmas party and closing night of dancing in December was well attended with quite a few visitors from other clubs. A good time was had by all.
We wish Adrian every success in his adventure in Vanuatu but we will miss his smiling face and look forward to his return later in the year. STOP PRESS Our charity for this year will be the Motor Neurone Disease Association of WA. If 100 sponsors can be found Keith, together with Victor, Laurie and Bill, will attempt to walk 100 kms in 24 hours as part of the "March in March" to raise money for this worthy cause. Sponsors are asked to pay $10 if the walk is completed. If you are interested in sponsoring this mammoth task, please get in touch with Taffy at taffy@upsndowners.com.
December 2011
Our Galah Night Charity Dance was a little disappointing attendance-wise, but we had calling, money and raffles donated which raised a nice sum for our charity this year - the WA Alzheimers Association. Betty and Bob’s friend Karly from USA enjoyed dancing with us and kindly accepted the duties of MC during the calling of the raffle prizes. Thanks to everyone who attended on the night, especially Dave and Pete who made the trip down from Geraldton just to join us, and to Sherill who was our fabulous photographer for the evening. Thank you to everyone who donated time, money and raffle prizes - hopefully next year will be even bigger!
Welcome back to Wilma, Ian and Max who have returned to the dance floor after their recent illnesses.
Best wishes to all for the festive season and we look forward to another year of dancing in 2012.
October 2011
It was sad to say farewell to our friends Panny and Syd from Queensland who have been dancing with us for some time. We look forward to them joining us again next year.
May, as well as Betty and Bob, have returned from their holidays up North and they’re all looking very relaxed. Betty and Bob are next cruising to Fiji, while Sandra and Adrian will be cruising and spending time in Thailand.
Wilma and Ian are both convalescing well, and we have welcomed Max back to the dance floor recently after his illness.
The Black Magic Night went off very well as we had a visit from ten Riversiders along with Heather, Helen, Roger and Tony from the Wild Frontier club in South Australia who were on their long way home from the Darwin Convention. Also present were some witches, wizards, a fortune teller and even a voodoo Queen! Check out our gallery for photographic evidence!
August 2011
Congratulations to Sean who did us all proud at the Amateur Callers Function on July 3, where we all enjoyed the wealth of talent among all the callers and a great afternoon was had by everyone.
We also helped Keith celebrate his birthday - with plenty of musical entertainment and poetry written and recited by him. It was a fantastic night and it was wonderful to see none of his now adult children had forgotten their early square dance moves!
Wilma and Ian are recuperating and hope to be well enough to dance soon but Diane is enjoying being back on the dance floor.
Away for a while are Joy and Brian who are holidaying in the UK and Betty and Bob are holidaying up North. We hope they all have heaps of fun!
June 2011
Lots of travelling happening around the club of late. Welcome home to May from her recent trip across the Nullabor, and to Keith from his walk down south. Lorraine and Sherrill are off on their tour to Alice Springs and Darwin, where they will attend the National Convention. Ron Fisher will also be away for a while when he goes over East next week.
However, our numbers have been bolstered lately by some born-again square dancers – welcome back to Joy, Mick, Ron, Antoinetta, Sean, Sandra and Adrian.
It’s good to see Diane is improving and will hopefully be back dancing with Rick soon. Ian is also progressing well.
On another note, some of us attended the latest production from the All Saints Players from the church where we dance. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal and the antics of the group; cheering and booing their melodrama, laughing at the skits, and joining in the singing as they went along.
June 14th is our next theme night – we hope to see everyone there dressed in all shades for our “Yellow” night.
May 2011
Taffy’s 70th was celebrated last week at the club’s sweets night. Thank you to all who came for this happy occasion, and to all those who provided the goodies for supper. We also found out that Panny, a previous dancer at Drifters and now living in Qld, who is here visiting family, is a twin of Taffy’s - how’s that for coincidence!!! Keith put pen to paper with a tribute to Taffy which was appreciated by the birthday “boy”. Keith also entertained us by calling a dance while juggling 3 balls with his back to the dancers - well done! It was lovely to see people who hadn’t danced for a time and I believe that the passion for our pastime was felt by many of them - I hope so!
Ian has returned home from hospital and we wish him a speedy recovery so that he and Wilma can get back to the club.
Lorraine had a wonderful time on her cruise down the Rhine and her visit to the UK, but as she gets home more will be leaving us for a time: Sheena is off to Scotland, Maricor and her son are off to the Philippines and Keith is off down south on his annual walkabout. Have fun, everyone!
April 2011
Our recent St David’s Day celebration was quiet but we enjoyed the costumes and the lovely Welsh music. Unfortunately, the hot weather has been playing havoc with our dancers meaning numbers have been down, so many thanks to all the loyal people who turn up each week.
We also had a lovely surprise on Tuesday when Panny and Syd (longtime dancers from the Drifters) joined us from Queensland; and we hope to see them again during their visit to family in WA.
Lorraine will be missing for a while because, by this time, she will be having the time of her life cruising down the Rhine lapping up all the sights.
Wilma and Ian were lucky not to have any damage to their house in the recent fires but Ian has had a stay in hospital and is to have surgery next week. We wish him a speedy recovery.
There have also been some outstanding achievements by club members recently: Keith won a golden gum leaf trophy for his winning entry into the Australian Poets’ competition at Tamworth this year. Congratulations Keith! And Debbie has been “strutting her stuff” - first as a singer and then as a model. Well done!
Finally, we’re all looking forward to our Sweets Night on 12 April. I wonder what goodies will arrive?! Can’t wait to see everyone there.
February 2011
Welcome back to a brand new year of square dancing!
We hope everyone had a wonderful festive season. We enjoyed our club Christmas party with prizes and hampers galore. We also got together in the “down time” to enjoy a club dinner at Nero’s on 18 January. Good times were had by all.
The club returns on 1 February, with our first theme night scheduled for 1 March. This will be our St David’s Day Night, with everyone donning their Welsh attire or colours for the evening. We would love to see everyone there to join in the fun.
Bob and Betty are off enjoying some more cruising in Vanuatu, with Nelly visiting her family in New Zealand. We hope they are all having a wonderful time. We also wish Lorraine a speedy recovery and hope that she is all well for her upcoming cruise.
VALE We have all been saddened by the sudden death of our friend Dudley. We will miss his smiling gentle presence . Words are few, thoughts are deep, memories of you we will always keep. R.I.P. Dudley.
December 2010
Thank you to all who helped us enjoy our recent 'Galah' night, including those who travelled from Geraldton and Mandurah. A good time was had by all and a substantial amount was raised for Youngcare, our charity for this year.
Our Christmas party and closing night for this year will be 21st December and we will re-open again on 1st Februrary 2011.
Best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy and safe festive season.
November 2010
Lots of travelling happening around the club of late. Welcome home to Joan who had a lovely time on her recent cruise. Also to Bob and Betty who arrived safely back from NZ despite the “rumbles” when they were in Christchurch. And May is off soon to see Lake Eyre in all its glory – we all hope she has a great time. We had a fantastic visit recently from SA guests Virginia and Malcolm. It was lovely to see them and we may see them again in Darwin next year.
Despite two AFL grand finals, we had a great turnout for our grand final week football-themed night with everyone in their favourite club colours; although Keith had to amend his grand final poem to account for the second game! Keith has also been entertaining us of late with his Jew’s harp; a small, unusual and ancient Turkish instrument. But of course he handles it with his usual aplomb.
We hope to see you all at our charity ‘Galah’ night on Saturday 6 November, which this year is in aid of the charity Youngcare. This is an organisation which is building accommodation for young people who require long-term care, to prevent them having to live in aged care facilities with the elderly. Please wear your pink and grey and join us for a great night!
October 2010
It’s a busy time with our dancers at the moment. Bob and Betty are shortly off on holiday to New Zealand. May has returned unscathed from her trek to the outback. Lorraine and Sherrill have just returned from a short holiday to Kalbarri; and we are looking forward to Joan’s return at the end of October.
Maricor and Keith have become grandparents to a beautiful granddaughter. Congratulations from all of us!
Also, please mark your calendars because on Saturday 6 November we are having our annual ‘Galah’ night, which this year is in aid of the charity Youngcare. This is an organisation which is building accommodation for young people who require long-term care, to prevent them having to live in aged care facilities with the elderly. Please wear your pink and grey and join us for a great night!
September 2010
On 3 August the club held a memorial dance for our friend George Kennett who passed away on 4 July.
Dancers came from long distances to remember him. Life member Ian came from Laverton, life members Greg and Gwenda made the trip from down south, as did caller Jeff, Dave and Pete came down from Geraldton and many friends from various metropolitan clubs attended.
A revolving projector show was on the stage showing photos of George over the years.
Taffy made reference to George’s love of food and golf, and read some of George’s rhymes. While he was reading one of these which was about Gwenda and Greg receiving the Australia Day Award, who should appear at the door but Gwenda and Greg! Taffy also called George’s favourite dance “She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain”.
George was specially remembered in the food department: There was a jar of his licorice allsorts which he used to bring to each club night; Julie made George’s special cream cake (mentioned in one of George’s poems) and Lorraine cooked his special scones with jam and cream.
We enjoyed the calling of 6 callers: - Taffy, Keith, Trish, Dave, Jeff and Peter; with Pat Mori cueing some round dancing. Thank you all.
Keith recited his poem for his “Old Mate” and Taffy called for one minute’s silence while the Last Post was played by the hidden bugler.
It was a great night and we thank all his friends for their attendance in helping us celebrate his life.
(And a special thank you to Julie’s granddaughter Rebecca for taking the photos for our website).
August 2010
Numbers have been down because of the weather (with some members like Bob and Betty, and Wilma and Ian heading north to escape the cold!) but the dancers who brave the cold always have a good time Tuesday nights.
We recently celebrated Bastille Day with French painters, can-can ladies, and many decked out in blue, white and red. There was a collection of French songs and food, and even some “French whistling”. A special thank you to Barbara’s daughter Tracey for drawing some wonderful pictures to help us decorate the hall.
VALE But on a sad note, the Ups ‘n’ Downers mourn the passing of our dear friend George Kennett who passed away peacefully on the morning of 4 July. A loyal member of the club and friend to the Square dancing community for twenty years, we celebrate his 95 years on this planet with many wonderful memories. Thank you, George, you will be remembered with love.
For those who knew George, please come and join us on 3 August for a celebratory tribute to his life.
