Tursachan

The Newsletter of the Callanish School of Celtic Arts

Dear Students and Parents,

Autumn is here and dance and fiddle lessons are in full swing. Beginning in November, monthly community service gigs will be scheduled such as shows at nursing homes and multicultural fairs. Once students are ready, Maggie and Lissa will invite students to perform. From then on, you are invited to participate in any show unless otherwise stated. If you have any ideas of places for the School to perform, please let me know. There are town events in various parts of the Cape that I don’t even know exist. The more performance experience the better!

Mòran Taing,

Maggie Carchrie

Fall Fundraiser

During the month of November, the School will be involved in a candle sale. Students will be selling “April’s Scents”, which are jar candles available in 3 sizes and in over 20 scents. The dates of the sale are November 3rd - December 1st, so you’ll still have the sale forms to hit up those Thanksgiving guests :-) Items should be delivered within 10 days, so in plenty of time for Christmas. Please consider purchasing candles for all those little presents you give, like the post man, trash man and Yankee swaps. This sale could potentially bring in thousands of dollars for the school as the profit is between 50-60% of the sales plus there is no shipping charge over 200 candles.

Spring Fundraiser

Taylor Mindrebo’s family has graciously donated the use of their restaurant, the Bookstore and Restaurant, for our spring fundraiser. We will be hosting a Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner on March 13th. Families will be asked to sell tickets to the event and students will perform. Stay tuned for more information.

Save the Date!

Medal testing for all Callanish Dancers will be held on Friday, January 30th at the WBCB. This is the day before our competition. All dancers, regardless of their level or if they compete, will be involved in medal testing. This is a non-competitive evaluative event which enables the dancers to receive a written critique of their dancing along with a beautiful certificate and medal. We are honored this year to have Joy Tolev, instructor of the eight-time world champion, Colleen Rintimaki, as our judge! She also was the examiner who gave Maggie her teacher’s test :-)

Congrats!

Congratulations to the following students on their recent accomplishments in the Celtic Arts:

Bagpipe Lessons to Resume

Bagpipe lessons with Donald Lindsay of Albany, NY will resume again on Friday, October 17 and Saturday, October 18th at Maggie’s house. Maggie is hoping to put together several advanced beginner classes on Friday evenings. One class would be for those students who took pipe lessons through the Sandwich community school with Thomas and the other would be for those who took lessons the second time around with Miss Colleen. Please let Maggie know ASAP if you are interested so that she can let other members of the Colum Cille Band know that the classes are a go. The cost will be approximately $15 for a one-hour small group lesson.

Scottish Dance Bags

It’s time once again to order Scottish Dance Bags. Maggie will be bringing bags to the embroider later this month. If you are interested in purchasing a bag, the cost is $13.50. This will probably be the last time we do this as we’re down to our last few bags from this old fundraiser. If you had bought a plain bag previously and would like your name on it, please bring it to class along with $3.50.

Highland Light Scottish Society

As many of you know, the Callanish School is sponsored by the Highland Light Scottish Society of Cape Cod. What this means is that we are able to use their non-profit status for fundraising purposes and for hall rentals, thus keeping cost of lessons down. The Society also sponsors scholarships for the children and provides cultural activities throughout the year. As a way of thanking the organization for their sponsorship, Maggie encourages the Callanish students and their families to join the group. Membership is $20 per year and applications are available from Maggie. You can also check out their web site at: www.scotsoncapecod.org (maintained by Joy Pell).

Hats Off!

Congratulations to the following dancers who earned medals and trophies at recent competitions:

Upcoming Events

4 October Goshen, CT Highland Games, 9-5
6 October FALL FIDDLE LESSONS BEGIN
12 October Scotland, CT Highland Games, 9-5
20 December Winter Solstice Cèilidh, 5:30 PM
30 January-1 February Callanish Winter Fling, Cape Cod Community College
4 March CCCC Multicultural Fair, 10-4
13 March Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner (Fundraiser) Bookstore and Restaurant, Wellfleet, MA
20 March Celtic Thunder Concert (Rù-Rà & Lissa), Carleton Hall, Dennis, 7 PM
27 April Orleans Woman’s Club, 1:30 PM

Need more info on festivals? See the official Highland Games web site at: www.maclachlans.org/games.html