When Mrs. Heggarty of The Grange, the largest of the three houses in the village of Ault Hucknall, invited a demonstration team of Scottish Country Dancers to a party she can have had no inkling of where it would lead for one of her guests. Jenny, who would live in that tiny village on the edge of Derbyshire for all but two of her ninety-three years, was present at that party, and captivated by the dancing.

A scholarship to Chesterfield Girls’ Grammar School and teacher training at Matlock had led to the Headship of Devonshire Infants’ School in Sutton in Ashfield until it closed and she became a supply teacher.

And then she was asked to the party at The Grange…

She joined a W.I. Scottish dance class in nearby Rowthorne before moving on to Mrs. Beckett’s class in Mansfield, and her first experience of teaching dance came after Mrs. Beckett’s retirement from the `Mansfield Ladies’. Along with her great friend Joan Watkinson, later to become Branch Chairman, she joined the RSCDS Nottingham Branch and trained for her Teacher’s Certificate under Margaret Donaldson. Miss Milligan was her examiner for the Full Certificate, and she paused before signing it…

MM: “Is that your baptismal name?”

JB: “Yes, Miss Milligan.” Indeed it was; she was never a Jennifer!

Skill and spatial awareness on the dance floor allied to mental agility led her on to devise her own dances, for which she has long been recognised, perhaps the best-known being the 4 x 24-bar reel `Nottingham Lace’ which is danced all over the world, and the strathspey `James Senior of St. Andrews’, published in Book 42 of the RSCDS collection. She was a major contributor to the collection `Nottingham 10.30’ and her own local publications include the `Oaks of Sherwood’ book, the `Culzean Castle’ collection and the `Gauldry Group’.  After over a quarter of a century as Principal Teacher at Nottingham Branch she was presented with a Branch Award before retiring at the end of the 2006-7 season, and received a letter of thanks from Irene Bennett, then Chairman of the RSCDS.

For many years Jenny and Joan attended RSCDS Summer School in St. Andrews, always following it up with a Scottish holiday. In her retirement Jenny continued to take an active part in the annual local tradition of well-dressing as well as making clothes, knitting jumpers on four needles and solving Sudoku problems until failing eyesight, old age and infirmity took their toll, and she died peacefully in her sleep at the end of February 2023.

Her funeral, in the ancient and intriguing Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist, Ault Hucknall was well attended by her family, her carers and members of the Scottish Country Dance and well-dressing communities.

David Page

What better way to start the ball rolling towards the 22-23 season than to bring a stop-start year to a close with our first Annual Dance since 2019?  The prospect of an evening of box and fiddle with Ian Robertson on accordion and Rebecca and her fiddle drew an appreciative audience, many of whom had danced with us in 2019, and all the local airts an’ pairts were well represented, including Leicester, Leeds, Newark, Chesterfield and North-East Derbyshire.  Understandably we were a little thinner on the floor than in previous years, but the programme, the music and MCs Elizabeth Gull and John Aitken kept the floor well occupied almost until `Auld Lang Syne’.  We look forward to welcoming friends old and new to a fresh programme of socials in the new season.  

David Page

More photos can be found in the gallery

The global pandemic prevented the ASCDS 40th Anniversary Festival (Association of Scottish Country Dance Societies) from taking place as it should have done in 2020, and then again in 2021.  So, it was a great relief that the present situation allowed it to be celebrated on 7th May 2022 at the Retford Oaks Academy.

Although numbers attending were down on previous years, the ten societies that attended from all around the East Midlands enjoyed meeting up with old friends from near and far and dancing together the twelve massed dances that we had all been practising in our own groups.  Nottingham RSCDS Branch took a team of nine dancers, together with two spectators to take part, and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  A special thank you to Tony Payne for guiding us through the dances at four special practices to ensure that we were all well prepared to enjoy the event on the day.  The spectacle of 110 dancers lined up on the dance floor, the men in kilts, the ladies in white dresses and tartan sashes ready to dance to the great music of Chris Dewhurst and his Band is very inspiring.  Dancing to live music makes such a difference – it’s very thrilling and such a joy.

Five of the Scottish Dance Societies presented a demonstration dance between some of the pairs of massed dances, and these were enjoyed by everyone, also giving the chance of a welcome five minutes’ rest for tired feet!  Our Branch demonstration team danced a solo entitled ‘The Best of the Seasons’ – a compilation of the strathspey, The Summer Meeting from Book 48, and the jig, The First Rain of Spring from Book 49 which was very well-received by the audience.

A video of the dance can be seen here

There was an evening dance later for those who had the energy left, again dancing to the wonderful music of Chris Dewhurst and his Band!

Elizabeth Gull

The branch team at the 40th ASCDS Festival – May 2022

What a joy it was to gather at Lowdham Village Hall on Saturday 25th September for an actual dance, rather than trying to dance round the furniture in our homes during Zoom classes! 

27 Dancers arrived from various corners of Notts and beyond, to be treated to a free evening. Many appreciated the reduced number of dances on the programme, since we are rather rusty after the lockdowns.

 We are grateful to “Blinkbonny”, also known as David and Debbie, for supplying us with “live” music – they’ve obviously been practising hard! 

The programme included such old faithfuls as “Good Hearted Glasgow” and “Maxwell’s Rant”, whilst there was plenty to challenge us with the likes of “The Two Gray Cats” and “The Nurseryman”.  ‘Set and Link for 3 Couples’ in “Rodney’s Rant” offered its usual entertainment!

Our thanks to Elizabeth and John for acting as MC and to all who helped in any way.

A good night was had by all! 

In August members of the branch met in person for the first time in nearly eighteen months. This garden social was held to enable members to catch up over coffee with fellow dancers and to discuss a plan of action for a return to dancing.

There was an overwhelming desire to return to dancing and members discussed how this could be done in such a way that they could feel as safe as possible. Following this discussion the branch committee met and have developed a return to dancing strategy that reflects feelings of the branch members as well as the guidance provided centrally by the RSCDS.

Dancing at the Nottingham Branch will therefore recommence on Wednesday 8th September and details about the arrangements for this can be found on the ‘Classes‘ page.

The ‘Get Back to Dancing’ Saturday Social will be on 25th September and further information about the dance, the crib and videos of the planned dances can be found on the ‘Events‘ page.

New and returning dancers are welcome at all our classes and events, please contact the Committee using the details on the ‘Contact Us‘ page for further information.