As you have probably already heard through the class convenors, Brenda Mackintosh passed away yesterday. Many of the long time members of the branch remember Brenda fondly for her kindly manner and Jordie sense of humour.
In fact she may have been the first teacher you had in the branch.
Today we are devoting the blog to her.
I believe Brenda would have wanted us to think of the good times so I have included excerpts of some of her favourite dances and a rehearsal of “that poem”.
You are invited to add your own memories of Brenda in the comments at the bottom of the blog.
I would like to thank her close friend Eileen Black for contributing to the write-up below and the photos of Brenda.
Brenda Mackintosh
Brenda emigrated from her native Newcastle to Canada in centennial year, 1967, with her friend Vida and they stayed for a short while with Brenda’s uncle, Alex Macwaters and his wife Margaret.
Both girls started dancing at the Macwaters by acting as stooges for prospective teachers at the teacher candidate class that Margaret taught in her basement . That lead to Brenda attending a SCD workshop weekend in Niagara . On the Monday after her return she was asked by a colleague why she was limping a bit and she explained why and said her colleague should join SCD. That colleague was Eileen Black.
Brenda decided she wanted to teach and she and Eileen started their training, but before they even got their certificate they started Children’s classes which they both enjoyed. Once they got their 1st Certificate they started Beginners classes, teaching together and eventually starting their own classes and the Branch began to grow significantly.
Brenda’s talents were endless as she learned to play the guitar and delighted her friends with some of her funny “Jordie” songs. She was a talented quilter and was still quilting until illness overtook her. Brenda was also an avid reader; she loved to knit and sew (not just quilts) and enjoyed walking and exercise classes.
She was also a dedicated volunteer and an all-round wonderful friend to many of us – Eileen Black
Charlie, Brenda Mackintosh was the first teacher Hugh and I had and thanks to her we have enjoyed Scottish Country Dancing for over 30 years. Two dances I remember learning with Brenda were the White Cockade and the Luckenbooth brooch. She had a Luckenbooth brooch and brought it in to show us to help explain the pattern of the dance. I wondered if you had any videos of either of these dances you could show?
Apart from being a wonderful first teacher she was also a good friend to us and many others – she’ll be greatly missed.
I agree with Rosy and Hugh about Brenda. A wonderful teacher and lovely person!!!
There are several videos of The Luckenbooth Brooch on the SCDDB page:
https://my.strathspey.org/dd/dance/3980/
And of The White Cockade:
https://my.strathspey.org/dd/dance/7109/
So many memories of the early days – those New Year Eve parties at the Macwaters and the Geordie humour with her Uncle Alec and Vida and that “Green Eye” ceidlh item that kept us in stitches the first and many other times. The rehearsal video was new and perhaps shared how it was done !
She will sorely missed
Lynda Pearson
I also agree with Monica and Lynda, Charlie re your tribute to Brenda.
Bill and I first met her in January 1974 when we joined in addition to
our Gloucester Class, a class at Confederation High School.
My memories of Brenda are coming back with tears and smiles.
I remember apart from loving being in her dancing class ; having
fun making pizza in her kitchen ; the little green god of course.
I think like Monica it was at a ‘ Montreal ‘ weekend the first time
we saw that .
Also I remember Brenda saying how she enjoyed reading the ‘ Lord
Peter Whimsy ‘ books by Dorothy Sayers.
She lives in my memory book as one of the very nicest persons
I have ever had the luck to have known.
Brenda will be remembered by so many particularly by those in
Ottawa who will miss very much her lovely presence.
That is a lovely tribute to Brenda, Charlie. We have known her ever since we started dancing in 1971. As well as a friend she was a superb teacher. I remember one great class when she had us working on turns, turn partners, corner partner, set to and turn partner, and I think even poussette, all done without giving hands. It was a fun class and it worked really well.
The first time I remember seeing the green eyed god was, I thought, at a Montreal weekend. Is that possible?
When you do not know that someone is ill, to hear of her death is a major shock. But we will all remember her, and miss her, as she really was.
I should add another comment about Brenda Mackintosh because she was my first RSCDS teacher and had to deal with me in her Beginners class. I recall that on one occasion she approached me with a somewhat determined look as I was trying to make my feet do something similar to a Pas de Basque. I was reasonably terrified knowing that the messages she had been giving me were being garbled by my brain and then misinterpreted by my feet. However Brenda started off by smiling and saying that the most important thing to remember in country dancing is that it is a social event and that you should not look at your feet but at your delightful partner, and smile. She said the effect of this would be that your partner would also look up and smile. As a result there was just no way your partner could then tell what your feet weren’t doing! I have always remembered this sage advice when struggling to pas de basque in something fast such as “Deal among the Tables”. She was a very special person.