In 1783 a Glasgow merchant by the name of Mr Hutcheson took a jaunt round Arran’s South end on horse back with some friends. On reaching Shiskine he stayed ovenight at a farm and found himself caught up in the spontaneous dancing of a group of peat cutters. ‘After supper we heard the sprightly notes of the fiddle.' Mr Hutcheson recounted in his journal 'accordingly we repaired to the great barn, where there were about ten or twelve fat, blooming country lassies walloping it away to the tune of ‘Greig’s Pipes’. Mr Mcleish and I were soon accommodated with partners and danced till we tired, but were far eclipsed by the country lads, who had more kicks and flings in three sets than we had in fifty'.
The dance he witnessed was typical of the kind of informal dances that would have taken place in houses and farm buildings at the time. It was time of change for dance in Scotland. Dance was as much a matter of fashion then as it is now and while the old highland reels regional dances were still around, new dances and steps were being absorbed from further afield. It was a process that started with the aristocracy, and their appetite for the fashionable dances of the continent and worked its way down the social order. New dances were brought to rural communities by a small army of itinerant dance masters who came armed with fiddle, or a kind pared down, portable fiddle known as a ‘kit’ that could be slipped under a coat. They would set themselves up in a local barn and run classes for eight or ten weeks before moving on. In Shiskine classes were still being held in the granary at Shedock farm in the late 1800s. Each dance master had his own repertoire of dances, combining old and new, indigenous and foreign, many composed or modified by himself. A Mr Buie who had been brought up in Lamlash described to dance historians, Joan and Tom Flett, how he was taught the ‘Highland Fling’ by a Dougald McKelvie around 1900 and gave them a version of the dance that is quite different from the one danced today.
Arran Fiddler
Many Arranachs like other Scots attended regular dancing classes, like the one started in Kildonnan in 1880. Despite warnings from the local pastor the first meeting took place in January of that year followed by a barn dance that went on till the small hours. Just how seriously dance was taken on Arran is demonstrated by a number of Arran Dances began to appear in the late 1800s. There was ‘The Arran Scottishe’, ‘The Shiskine Polka' or 'Shiskine Post', 'The Lochranza Barn Dance',' The Waltz Coireghael' and the 'Heather Step Waltz', all sadly lost now.
The highlight of Arran's social calender, and consequently the dance year was the Natives Of Arran Reunion held anually in the Queen's Hall in Glasgow. In it's hayday the event saw up to 900 people attending and played host to some of the best performers of the day like Scott Skinner and Harry Lauder.
Among the prestigious guests were the Secretary Of State for Scotland and the Lord Provost Of Glasgow.
By the mid 1800s when the Natives Of Arran reunions were fist held in Glasgow the popular social dances were nearly all foreign. There were polkas, waltzes, barn dances, Scottishe and Quadrilles. The grand march, was the obligatory opening dance for such a grand occasion. As the sound of the pipes filled the hall the couples would march down the floor led by the guest of honour and cast of into formation ready for the first dance. Then it was the bands turn to take the stage. Over the years there was S C Foster’s Quadrille Band, Mr Wilson’s Quadrille Band and Mr Booth’s Quadrille Band which held a virtual monopoly of the event in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Quadrille dances were the craze that swept Europe in the 1800s in the same way that jive and swing would in later years. In it’s original form it was just as energetic a dance when danced by the young men and woman of revolutionary France, with high leaps and acrobatic moves. The dance became such a symbol of European culture that it was introduced to Japan in an attempt to Westernise the country. With the peace of 1815 it crossed the channel and quickly became popular across the country. Scottish music was adapted to the dance and a number of quadrilles with Scottish names began to appear like the 'Caledonian’s' and 'Wilson’s Royal Scots'. As was usually the case the fashion drifted down the Clyde and was soon found in Arran. At the time Booth’s Quadrille band were appearing at the natives of Arran a shop keeper from Whiting bay’s fortuitous name allowed him to start a similar sounding band called Boa’s Quadrille Band.
It was a time of great social change on Arran. The old farming communities were disappearing and with them the old time ceilidhs held round the peat fire. While families and friends might still gather round the piano for a sing song, community dance and music events were moving into new community buildings. A virtual frenzy of public building broke out in the Arran villages fuelled by a sense of civic pride. From fields began to rise, churches, schools, drill halls, reading rooms, Masonic halls and; most important of all; the village Hall. While a lone fiddle could set feet to dance in the confined space of a house, something more substantial was required for a village hall. The result was the evolution of village bands. Nearly every village on Arran has at one time been able to boast its own band. A typical band was the one that came together in 1927 to play a concert and dance in Brodick Hall. Mr A E Evans played fiddle accompanied by his wife on piano. Also on fiddle was a promising young musician called Alex Fernie, who was son of the Arran Estate forester. Drums were played by Fergus latona, the son of a Scicilian, ship wrecked on Arran, and Angus Sillars played the mandolin. A short selection of other bands through the years includes ‘The Corrie Quadrille Band, The Corrie Band, Ford and Accessories (Brodick) The Evans Band (Brodick), Mr Toole’s Band (Lamlash) The Kildonnan Band, The Southend Band (Kilmory) Fernie’s Follies (Whiting Bay) and the Shiskine Band. Like the bothy bands in the north east these bands consisted simply of who ever was around and was reasonably competent. While most bands had one or two fiddles and a piano, other instruments could include anything from ukulele to saxaphone.
A cloud moved over Arran as war broke out and news of local losses began to come home. Events were naturally more subdued but the community did its best to carry on as normal. There were concerts and dances to raise funds for the red cross and entertainments for the patients of the Lamlash Auxiliary hospital. At a ceilidh organised by the Lady Graham for the Lochranza branch of the Red cross on new year 1915, while the audience knitted garments for front line troops , a young lad called Ronald MacMillan sang a poignant ‘It’s a long Way To Tiperary’ and Mrs E Sutherland danced an Irish jig.
After the war Britons turned their back on the stuffy Victorian pre war values and looked to new dance styles from abroad like jazz dancing, fox trots and tangos. Although it was mainly an urban phenomenum of dance halls and night clubs its influence was felt in the village halls of Arran, imported by bands visiting from the mainland to play during the summer season; bands like Morrison’s jazz band which appeared in Lamlash and Whiting Bay in the 1920s. Local bands were also responding to the new influences. In 1927 Mr Toole of Lamlash formed a new band with some young friends whose line up included violin, banjo, ukulele and jazz drum.
The Scottish Country Dance society founded in 1923 on the other hand looked in the opposite direction to something more traditional and pastoral. It was the Scottish country dance Society that was responsible for introducing our modern ceilidh dances, like Strip The Willow and the Dashing White Seargant, to Arran in the 1920s. The co founder of the Society Jean Milligan, a PE instructor at Jordanhill College in Glasgow, dance was more than just entertainment; it was a means to promote a civilised and healthy form of social interaction, and puts Scots in touch with their heritage. In her book ‘Won’t You Join the Dance’ she outlined the reason for the organisation's formation‘…the Scottish dance was gradually and undeniably dying. It had become so much affected - even in remote country districts- by the poorest form of jazz, that it was difficult to see in most of it any sign of traditional Scottish form or spirit. Riot and licence had taken the place of gaiety and abandon and, unfortunately, in the minds of many people they had become synonymous.’
Jean Milligan set about spreading the country dance doctrine with a near religious zeal and trained up an army of dance evangelists at Jordanhill who went on to teach the dances across the country. In 1926 Miss M L Ross of the Scottish country dance was invited to attend a Corrie WRI meeting on Arran to run a class, during which ‘pupils mastered a dozen of the dances from Scottish Country Dance Books 1 & 2'.
The WRI, then in its infancy was a dynamic group of young women, relishing the opportunity to escape the tyranny of domestic life for a few hours a week. Country dance was a perfect, outwardly acceptable way for them to let their hair down and quickly caught on. A couple of weeks later they were dancing 'The Corskscrew' after a talk on dressmaking.
In 1927 the WRI received a grant of £30 from the Carnegie trust to run classes and Scottish Country Dance Society teachers became a regular feature on the Island. A Country Dance section was introduced to the Music Festival and WRI groups from different villages competed against each other performing dances like the Petronella, The Bumpkin, Corn Rigs and Perth Medley. The WRI in turn became evangelists passing the dances on to other groups and teaching them at events. WRI mebers demonstrated the Dashing White Sergeant at a Whist Drive and Dance in Lamlash in 1929 and the Strip the Willow was introduced at a Masonic Social.
The post war generation had looked death and the hardships of war in the face and were determined to live life to the full. In the 1920s there were dances several nights a week and on some nights you could take your pick from several. If you did not like the dance in your own village you could jump on a passing paddle steamer to the next one. It was fashionable in the 1920s was to have a whist drive followed by a dance, there were also fancy dress dances, there was the popular poultry and pigeon club dance, the tennis club ran a flannel dance, there were reading and recreation club dances, WRI dances, bachelor club dances and the students dance orchestra of Glasgow University would come over to run dances in the village halls. What all dances had in common was that they would routinely go on to the wee small hours, and sometimes even the not so wee small hours.
The reaction of the older generation to all this revelry was predictable. A correspondent in the Ardrossan and Salcoates Herald in 1929 complained that dances often did not start till after 11pm after a whist drive, and that having three dances a week 'makes a weariness of pleasure'.
Another feature of the time was the dances organised by the bands of visiting ships. On the night of 17th Jan 1929 , so many had come for the dance that night in Lamlash Hall organised by the band of the HMS Rodney that would be sent away disappointed, unable to be squeeze into the hall, already full to bursting. The atmoshpere inside would have been electric inside as the throng awaited the band to take the stage, the folk of Arran mingling with the uniformed sailors. The great battleship from which the sailors had come, sat in the bay, a watching shadow. She had created a bit of a stir on the island on her previous visit a few months earlier when islanders were invited out to visit her. She was the most powerful battleship afloat and must have caused little boys jaws to drop, and those of a few grown men too, with her sheer size and massive 16inch guns.
Not surprising then that the dance sold out. Accompanying her this time was the Rodney’s sister ship, ‘The Nelson’ and not to be outdone she also held a dance a few days later. The bands of other ships like the ‘Tiger and the Iron Duke also played for dances. They may have been older ships but had the added distinction of having served in the war, and would have been just as formidable a sight in the bay.
Lamlash Bay provided a safe deep water anchorage and had been a popular refuge for ships since King Hakkon of had gathered his fleet there in the fateful summer of 1263. With war and the threat of war the Clyde was continually playing host to naval manoeuvres and at times there ships in Lamlash bay with a combined population of 8000 on board. Things were even livelier after the outbreak of the second world war. Not only was Arran’s population boosted by the crews of ships at anchor in Lamlash Bay; Arran also played host to staff of the boom defence headquarters, a gunnery school, and sick quarters WRENs, land girls and commandos. With all these extra people around there was more need than ever for entertainment, and the Arran people rose to the challenge. Lamlash Hall held 3 dances a week throughout the war. On Thursday Bob Brown’s band would play and on Friday dancing was to records.
The disparate dance crazes of the post war years gradually coalesced under the banner of Balroom dancing. A more systematised approach to the dances made them accessible to a wider public and film stars like Fred Austaire and Ginger Rodgers ensured their popularity.
It was at this time the Scottish dance group really came of age. The Sophisticated couple dances of the Ballroom came together with the homespun Scottish country dances to create a peculiarly Scottish version of British dance hall culture . The origins of the dance may have been mixed but the music was distinctly Scottish in flavour. A typical band would consist of first and second accordion, a fiddle, drum a piano and double base. Dance bands like the Bobby McLeod Band, The Jim Cameron band and The Ian Powrie Band were the rock and roll bands of their day across rural Scotland. Best known of all was the Jimmy Shand band which visited Arran in the 1950s to play at the Lamlash Community Centre for the Lamlash Ladies' Country Dance Club.
The accordion was the new kid on the black of Scottish music, in the same way that the pipes and the fiddle had been in their day. To the rural Scot the Accordion was what the electric guitar was to become to urban Britains. It looked good, it was expensive and it could create a mighty sound. The cudos of owning one was on a par with owning a fast car; all the better if you could actually play it. Alastair McAlastair of Blackwaterfoot was hooked on the accordion after seeing virtuoso player Archie Duncan in Eagalsham.
The Shiskine Band 1954 playing for the Farmer's annual dinner Dance 1954 in the Douglas Hotel, Brodick. Donald Currie, Tom Bannatyne, Donnie Murchie and Alister MacAlister
Alasdair was a founder of the legendary Shiskine Band, along with Donald Murchie (Accordion) Jimmy Ferguson (piano), Fergie Latona (drums), Tom Bannatyne (saxaphone) and John Craig (fiddle)They were about the nearest Arran got to a Rock and Roll band, and played hard in more than one sense of the expression. They would regularly perform to he small hours several nights a week while holding down day jobs. Piano player Jimmy Ferguson would be up again at 5 to do his fish van delivery.The old tin hall at Shiskine would shake when the dance was in full swing and things could get a bit hairy with the odd fight breaking out.
Village Hall at Brichburn. Alister MacAlister described how the whole hall would shake during a dance
Village Hall at Brichburn. Alister MacAlister described how the whole hall would shake during a dance