History of Devon Irish Set Dancers
Irish Set Dancing classes began in Devon in 1997. There had been workshops each year at Sidmouth Folk Festival before this, but no regular classes.
Exeter
John Earle began teaching Irish Set Dancing in St Matthew’s Church Hall, Exeter in September 1997. John was a maths teacher with Irish heritage who was a keen dancer and wanted to share this with as many people as possible. After the class had been running for a year John took a group of about 12 dancers to the summer school in Drumshambo, Co Leitrim, Ireland. We attended the classes there and danced in the ceilis. The experience of dancing to live music from the top Irish ceili bands was very motivational for the dancers on the trip.
John organised two Irish Set Dancing weekends, bringing teacher Timmy McCarthy over from Ireland, with musicians Jon Saunders and Padraig O Shea.
Colyford
There were also set dancers in Bridport, Dorset at this time and some of them decided to start a Sunday afternoon dancing group accessible to the Exeter and Bridport dancers. St Andrew’s Church Hall, Colyton, was chosen as the venue for this group, where some of the dancers lived. Ken Lamport was the leader of this group at first but was replaced by Maggie Daniel after a few years. The group moved to the current venue, Colyford Memorial Hall in September 2012. This is a lovely modern and well equipped hall, with a good dance floor.
Newton Abbot
The Exeter group folded in 2002 and was replaced by a new group in the Rydon Community Centre, Kingsteignton, led by Mary Bingham. Mary is an Irish woman from Clare who has lived in England since she was a teenager. She was always lively and enthusiastic and welcomed many new dancers to the group. We continued in the Rydon Hall for a few years, but it was too big for the numbers of dancers we had then. Also, every week we were waiting for the aerobics class to leave before we could go in and start dancing! We moved to the Jolly Farmer in Newton Abbot and have been there ever since. It’s very convenient for people to get to by car or by bus, and we can easily go to the bar to socialize after dancing. There is always space to sit, as the dancing room is upstairs, and the sound of our feet is very loud in the area underneath the dance floor!
In 2014 Mary decided to step down from teaching, and handed the club over to Maggie Daniel, who still runs it today. In March 2016 Mary moved away to be nearer her daughters and grandchildren, but still visits occasionally.
Ceilis
We organise ceilis with live music two or three times a year. The Christmas ceili at Colyford is always very popular, with many of us going for a Christmas meal afterwards. This is often followed by some songs and tunes, we have some very talented musicians and singers in the group. In 2018 we discovered the village hall in Bickington (near Newton Abbot), which is in the former school building, and used it for a ceili. It is a lovely space for dancing, characterful and intimate. We are very lucky to have The Perfect Cure Ceili Band based in the Bristol area to play for our dancing when we have special events. Their leader, Jill Elliot, is a keen dancer herself, and strives to make the music they play fit the dances.