As Scotland’s Year of Homecoming drew to a close last weekend, the old High Street of Dumfries filled with both locals and visitors to enjoy the best of contemporary and traditional Scottish music – and to take part in The Reel Thing.
At 3pm on Sunday almost 800 people took their places for the Homecoming Threesome Reel in a long line up which stretched from The Midsteeple down to the Loreburn Centre. The atmosphere was tremendous. Marketing Officer for DGAA Jean Atkin said, “It was great – I was standing in a dance team with my family and a couple who had come from Cumbria for the day. All around us I could see friends and neighbours from all over the region. People were greeting and waving to each other, and when we started the dance there was just such an air of fun, and community. My ten year old had been trained at his school, and he kept our team right! There was a big spontaneous cheer as the dance ended.”
Louise Davies, DGAA’s Arts & Communities Co-ordinator who has worked tirelessly to put The Reel Thing together, coordinating dance teams and trainers (who succeeded in training 2500 people the Homecoming Reel in six weeks), said “We didn’t break the record – this time – but what an occasion. Thanks so much to all who took part, and all the trainers who worked so hard. Dumfries could still be back for another crack at that record!”
