| SCOTS IN LONDON - Royal Caledonian Ball - History |
| Written by Royal Caledonian Ball | |
| Monday, 04 February 2008 | |
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The Royal Caledonian Ball (www.royalcaledonianball.com ) started sometime in the 1840s as a privategathering given by the Duke and Duchess of Atholl for Scottish friends.
The Royal Caledonian Ball (www.royalcaledonianball.com ) started sometime in the 1840s as a privategathering given by the Duke and Duchess of Atholl for their Scottishfriends who resided in London. By 1849, still at their invitation, itbecame a subscription dance for the purposes of collecting fundsfor Scottish charities, albeit with a decidedly Highland bias. Recordsshow that the ball has been held annually ever since; cancellationsonly occurring with events beyond the committee's control! No ballstook place during the Boer War, following the death of Edwar VII in1910 and during the First andSecond World Wars. Over more than one hundred and fifty years it hasgrown into one of the highlights of the London Season and a mostsuccessful vehicle for raising large sums of money. It must by now havea good chance of ranking as the oldest charity ball in the world. From 1930 the ball has been held at Grovesnor House, this hotel havingthe largest ballroom in London and capable of dealing with up to athousandScots who descend on the capital to reel the night away. A recordattendance was acheived in the 1980s of more than thirteen hundred butthis is unlikelyever to be overtaken with the modern fire regulations in place. Indeedat the time everyone agreed that it was rather too many for the GreatRoomto cope with, rather a squash, leaving many participants hot andbothered. In the 1930s, as a treat, it was a very popular custom for childrenwith their nannies to be allowed on the balcony to watch their parentsdancingin the set reel, which formally open the ball, in the Great Room below. Since the days of Edward VII the ball has been honoured with thePatronage of the reigning Monarch and the ball can celebrate over 50years ofPatronage by Her Majesty The Queen. The president had traditionally always been the current Duke ofAtholl, who anually attended the dance and usually brought with him hisown private army, The Atholl Highlanders, to play before the ball andto pipe onto the floor everyone taking part in the ceremonial set reelbefore performing an eightsome reel. This is a dance of Atholl originand was introduced in 1890, before when it was the practise to arrangequadrilles. However, as the present Duke of Atholl lives in SouthAfrica, we have been fortunate in securing the services of firstly theEarl of Errollas our president and now Iona, Duchess of Argyll. The money raised by the Royal Caledonian Ball allows a substantialsum to be given to Scottish charities each year. The Committee feelsthatit is more important to give aid to people rather than things and so itis the young, the elderly, the homeless, the cancer sufferers and thedisabled and disadvantaged in and way who receive help to improve theirlives through our donations. An article on charity ballspublishedin a leading daily newspaper some years ago gave the impression thatonly about £10 from every ticket sold actually went to good causes.For many years the ball has succeeded in giving 60 - 80% of the cost ofa ball ticket to the chosen charities and, thanks to gifts towardsthe expenses of this dance from generous sponsors, we hope to be ableto continue to improve on this percentage. Over the last ten years, the Ball has donated over £300,000 to Scottish charities and worthy causes. In recent years, the ball has supported a number of charities,including The Queen Victoria School in Dunblane, Borderline, TheErskine Hospital and St Catherine's Homeless Project in Edinburgh.
Charities Supported
The ball first started donating to charity in 1849 and is one of the oldest, if not the oldest,charity ball in the world. Over the years the ball has been able to donate 50% of the ticket price to the charities it supportsafter costs have been paid for. The larger the ball attendance the larger the contribution as once the fixed overheads are paid for every extra ticket sold goes to charity. In recent years, by raising funds for the The Royal Caledonian BallTrust, the Ball has supported a range of charities including:
Royal Patronage & Committee
The Royal Caledonian Ball is held under the patronage of: Her Majesty The Queen
His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh
Ball Secretary:
Further information: > The Royal Caledonian Ball Trust The 2008 Royal Caledonian Ball will be held on Friday 2nd May 2008. See Events section for details. |
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