August 2024

A Notice for Region 5 Dancers and Leaders,

Well friends, the time has come to dissolve the Region 5 Caller, Cuer and Dancer Association (R5CCDA). This is one of the 3 organizations that you pay membership to each dance season.

Below is a brief summary for those who are not too familiar with the history of our square dance organization.

Once upon a time, when the R5CCDA was formed, Region 5 was thriving.  We had many clubs, lots of special dances and quite a few dancers.  In those days, we did not have the internet, text messaging or email services available to us so a regional association was formed.  Meetings were held and representatives from each of the clubs attended.  In this way, we were able to share information and ideas, schedule dance events that did not conflict with others, fund a regional newsletter, send delegates to represent us at  BCS&RDF meetings, etc.

However, as the years passed, many of the clubs in our region folded for one reason or another.   We no longer have dance clubs in Fort St. John, Mackenzie, Terrace,  Quesnel, 150 Mile House, Lac La Hache, 100 Mile House, Lone Butte or Green Lake.

In this time, we also lost many of the dance activities that made our region special.  For example, we can no longer dance at the Quesnel Jamboree, the Region 5 Kick-Off Caper, the Williams Lake Mini-Jamboree, the South Cariboo Jamboree, the 100 Mile House Hawaiian Night, Cariboo Contra Weekend, Green Lake Snow Dance,  to name a  few.

And since the Covid years, although some clubs are still running, we have not had  enough dancers available in the region to hold the Williams Lake Jamboree, the Prince George Jamboree, PG Snowflake Dance and PG Robbie Burns Dance or the Williams Lake February Frolic.

The sad truth is that Region 5 has only 3 active clubs left - Vanderhoof Drifting Squares, Prince George Northern Twisters and Williams Lake Stampede Whirlaways. ( Dawson Creek is still dancing but they do not participate in R5CCDA activities.)

Although these 3 clubs are still dancing, they are struggling due to the small number of dancers they now have and some are also experiencing financial difficulties.

As a result, we are no longer able to host any major dance events in our region and our Caller, Cuer, Dancer Association (R5CCDA)  is unable to function in any useful way.  No one wants to attend meetings in person or online. No one wants to take a position on the executive.  Very few want to reply to any queries that I send out.  Most are not the least bit interested in our Association any more.

Therefore, as the last member of the executive still available, I will begin the process of  dissolving the  Region 5 Caller, Cuer, Dancer Association.  I will distribute the money remaining from the R5CCDA account in the form of cheques and when the cheques have been cashed, I will close down the R5CCDA bank account.  The money will be distributed equally to the 3 clubs that currently have their dancers registered as R5CCDA members.

After that, I will no longer be relaying news and information from the BC Square and Round Dance Federation (BCS&RDF) to each club and I will no longer be collecting and processing the yearly dance membership fees.

It will then be up to each club to contact the BCS&RDF and give them some updated contact information if they wish to stay in touch to receive information such as the president’s newsletters, info on upcoming Festivals, grants available, financial aide for callers and cuers to attend schools, etc.  

As far as the fees go, if your club wants the 3rd party liability insurance that most halls require, you will have to make your own arrangements with the BCS&RDF.

I contacted the BCS&RDF treasurer, Pat Zeeman, and she said that it will be possible for clubs to register directly with her (bcfedtreasurer@gmail.com) if we no longer have a regional association.  There is a form on the Federation Webpage that you can use for this.  It is form 4b.  https://squaredance.bc.ca/membership-forms-and-info/
Thankfully this option is still available to our clubs because if we had to deal with private insurance companies, the expense would be much greater.

At the moment, those who paid their fees last fall, are members-in-good-standing and will be insured until Dec. 31, 2024.  However, the fees for 2025 will be due in October 2024.

Thank you to all of the dancers who have supported the R5CCDA over the years. I do not make this decision lightly.  Nick and I have been on the executive in one way or another for many years. We were delegates to the Federation from R5CCDA (12 years). Nick has served as President of R5CCDA, 2 years as Vice President of the BCS&RDF, 4 years as President of BCS&RDF and has served 12 years as Secretary for R5CCDA.  Mary Anne has served 2 years as Secretary of R5CCDA and 2 years as Treasurer and 12 years as President of R5CCDA.  We also produced a dance newsletter for Region 5 for 20 years. We have always enjoyed working for the dancers of our region and are disappointed that the square dance world has suffered such a decline.

Although I will no longer be involved with a Regional organization, I will continue to maintain the Region 5 website  at https://www.r5ccda.squaredance.bc.ca/ so please notify me if you need information added or changed for your club.

Best wishes to the clubs that are remaining. 
Mary Anne Turner