News

The ESDS 2018 AGM was held on 25 January 2018 at LifeCare Centre. Here’s a rundown of what was covered in the meeting.

What we did in 2017

Classes and workshops

We had 5 terms of our regular Thursday classes, including tasters and open practice sessions. Our Beginners classes got as big as 120 people some weeks!

There were extended socials with live music at our band nights at the end of each term. Some of these were free of charge.

Beginners workshops also ran at the end of most terms.

Teachers

We have a big group of new teachers this year who we’ve also been investing in training so we can continue to give you the best classes possible. Our more experienced teachers have been super helpful with training and advice.

We also had lots of great guest teachers:

• SwingPatrol in February
• Ellen and Rob
• Rebecca and Adam
• Katie and Jamie
• Lauren and Peter from Los Angeles in December

Events and other stuff

We have introduced our Code of Conduct and ongoing commitment to Safer Spaces. The Code of Conduct is on the website and also available at the registration desk and DJ table every Thursday and also at events.

We’ve bought a few new very useful things, including an iPad and music for the teachers to use in classes and planning, a portable speaker (which is the same model as Edinbop’s, so we have the potential to team up for massive impromptu outdoor Lindy Hopping), and storage space for all the other equipment we have.

The George Young Hall in LifeCare Centre got a very awesome new floor with help from the Aviva Community Fund, which many of you helped vote for. We also contributed to the ongoing renovation of the hall which includes structural, lighting and sound improvements.

Our two weekend events – Swingin’ Spring and Winter Swing Weekend – were big successes, and more importantly loads of fun. And at the end of the year, Vicky organised a group to dance at the vintage fair in the Assembly Rooms.

Charity and donations

We donated £500 to Maggie’s in memory of our member Yvonne Pryor.

£2300 went to LifeCare Centre towards the hall renovations, which was from 2017’s excess funds.

And we were also a supporter of the Big Band Revival: Jimmie Lunceford Transcription Indiegogo campaign. We fully funded the transcription of Whatcha Know, Joe. All transcriptions were performed live for the first time at Lindy Focus 2017. The recorded livestream is on YouTube. Here’s a link directly to the song in the set. The charts from this project will soon be available to big bands all over the world!

Membership

We had a whopping 145 members in 2017! We also recognised our Lifetime Members with shiny new gold cards, and we made our founders and longtime committee members Lifetime Members as well.

Volunteers

ESDS runs on volunteer power. Our committee, all of our teachers, and everyone who takes money on the door, DJs, and refills water does everything for free because they are awesome. It takes a lot of time and energy to keep the society running, and we’re always looking for more volunteers, so speak to a committee member if you’d like to help out!

If you want to geek out about music, our regular DJs in 2017 were Paddy, Moira, Nick, Niall, and Kate.

Treasurer’s report

Starting balance: £9,521.00
End balance: £2,796.00

Thursdays & workshops income: £14,300

Swingin’ Spring
Spent: £7,033
Income: £4,937
Subsidy: £2,096 (30%)

Winter Swing Weekend
Spent: £12,410
Income: £7,342
Subsidy: £5,068 (41%)

Donations/charity: £3,147

IT expenses: £459

2018 Committee

Nick Harrison stood down from the committee this year. Huge thanks to Nick for all his work and help over the years! And he will still be teaching for us.

We gained one new committee member, Vicky McMurray, and all other members were re-elected for the same positions. So our committee is now:

• Kate Amann – Chair
• Valerie McIntosh – Secretary
• Chris Woodall – Treasurer
• George Young – Teaching Coordinator
• Niall Davies
• Rhona Davies
• Vicky McMurray
• Migle Petruskeviciute

Plans for 2018

We’re planning more weekend workshops this year for all levels. Beginner and Improver workshops should be running at the end of each term, and Intermediate/Advanced workshops will also be a regular occurrence after a very successful one in January with Shell and Tim.

We will be investing more in teacher training throughout the year, including a weekend event from 1-3 June with David and Cátia from Portugal, who you may remember from Swingin’ Spring last year. Registration should open for that in late March/early April.

Winter Swing Weekend will be 23-25 November this year, so get those dates in your diary! Registration will open sometime in the summer, and we’ve got some awesome teachers in store for you so you won’t want to miss it.

We’ll also be sending out a link to a feedback survey to find out what you’d like to see this year, so please let us know!