Centenary of St. Andrew Society (London)

(Wimbledon and District Scots’ Association)

In 2010, this Society will celebrate its centenary with a Ball on 20th March 2010 see the separate advertisement on this website. This is an unusual event for RSCDS Affiliated Societies and the following short historical summary has been prepared from the Society’s Minute Books and other records.

On 16th March 1910 a group of Scottish persons living in Wimbledon or nearby decided to support Scottish culture by forming a society for this purpose. A constitution was drafted and the Mayor of Wimbledon was invited to fill an honorary position. Inaugural meetings were held on 2nd and 16th April 1910 to “provide opportunity of promoting friendly intercourse” with an aim of “the preservation of some of Scotland’s most attractive characteristics”, after which it had 60 members and the meetings were reported in several newspapers.

In April 1913, the Society was registered as a Friendly Society under the name “Wimbledon & District Scots’ Association (1910)”, but the following year it changed its name to “St. Andrew Society (S.W. London)”. However, by 1927, the “S.W” had been removed.

In 1973, it was decided that, as the Society now held its meetings in what was then “the London Borough of Wimbledon”, it should adopt also the subsidiary title of the “Wimbledon and District Scots’ Association”, it not then being realised that this had actually been the name under which the Society had originally been formed.

The Society has always been interested in dancing. It had, in 1913-14, an “honorary dance instructor” and a “dance circle” with a weekly attendance of 150. However, its main activities were based on discussion groups and talks and in 1914, it celebrated the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn 1314 with a picnic on Wimbledon Common near to a plantation of trees which the Society had sponsored and this continued for some years as an annual event.

During World War II, activities were sporadic, but the Society was re-launched by a meeting advertised for 2nd October 1950. 107 Members were then enrolled despite an increase in the annual subscription from “3 shillings”(its original 1910 value) to “5 shillings”!

On 25th January 1951, the Society had a Burns Night Dance and this has been held annually since then. The “Dancing Class” was revived in 1955 and attracted a weekly attendance of 50/60. Within a few years, this Class became the main activity of the Society and in 1964 it started to meet in the hall of the Wimbledon Community Association which it has done on winter Tuesday evenings ever since, often with monthly informal dances on Saturdays and with special events to celebrate St. Andrew’s Day. The Society became an affiliated RSCDS group member in 1965 and, besides the Annual Burns Night Dinner Dance, it organised an annual ball for many years until the cost of room and band hire became uneconomic and it is hoped that the forthcoming special “Centenary Ball” will be a catalyst for the re‑incarnation of an annual ball with a live band.

No doubt because of its name, the Society has for many years exchanged greetings with other “St. Andrew” societies established in widely different global locations as a celebration of “St. Andrew’s Day” and we hope that this will continue in the second century of our existence.

(Dr.) Alan W. White

Hon Sec. (1963-68); Chief (1981-83)