31st May to 2nd June 2025 in Cambridge

The Cambridge Scottish Country Dancing Society has great pleasure in welcoming you all to attend the forthcoming King's Birthday Weekend School, 2025, which is being held in Cambridge. All of the main events will be held at the Cambridge Town Hall with classes being held in St Peter's Church Hall (Anzac Street) and St.Andrew's Church Hall.

Our Teachers for the Weekend:

Helen Smythe: Helen has danced since she was a child when her grandmother introduced her to dancing at the Cambridge Club. Helen got her provisional certificate around the year 2000 and after taking time out to raise her three daughters, she gained her full certificate in 2017. Helen teaches at both Lochiel and Cambridge clubs and she loves both the new and old dances. Helen strives to inspire newer dancers to enjoy dancing as much as she does with the emphasis being on fun, especially if one can dance well together as a team. Outside of dancing, Helen is Head of the Math Department at Cambridge High School.

Hazel Fish: Hazel started dancing in the United Kingdom when she started school. Many years were taken with ballet, tap and jazz. Fast forward to coming to a small rural community in New Zealand in 2018 and the only dancing locally was Scottish Country Dancing. To appease everyone that has an opinion that homeschooled children do not socialise, SCD was one of the activities to which Hazel took her three young sons and they loved it. It gave Hazel the opportunity to join in too. Hazel completed her RSCDS teaching certificate in 2017. Unfortunately, COVID restrictions limited the opportunities to teach. Hazel has taught at an Australian Winter School and a couple of NZ Summer Schools. The 2025 KIng's Birthday Weekend School will be her first time teaching in the North Island. Hazel loves the shapes that dances make and how the combinations flow and teamwork can create something beautiful to watch. Outside of dancing, Hazel works as a pharmacy technician and she has also qualified as a fencing coach - be aware as it's the stabby kind not the picket fence around the garden kind!

Gaye Collin: Gaye came to Scottish Country Dancing at the age of 18 and was hooked from the start. Lower Hutt Club has been her base, and after gaining her certificate in 2011, she taught the Lower Hutt club for two blocks of several years alongside her husband, Damon.

Gaye has taught Region classes and at Day & Weekend Schools. The Advanced Low-Impact Class is becoming a regular gig for her. Gaye has taught at this level several times, most recently at the Winter School in Perth in September 2022 and the Auckland Summer School in 2022/23.

Gaye;s great passion is in devising dances and she has published five books. In April 2024 she was asked to teach a Devisor's Day in Christchurch, comprising two levels; a general class in the morning and an advanced class in the afternoon. After the experience, she called it her Deviser's Dream Day.

Gaye's other interests are indoor bowls, card evenings with friends once a month, rugby, cricket and netball (just watching from the couch, balancing a glass of wine). She also enjoys riding her e-bike with Damon on easy grade trails, and spending time in their rather large garden, not to mention time with four lovely grandchildren.