Brenda have been Scottish Country Dancing since 2000 when she and Dale both started in Mary McConnell's Greensboro Group.  She went to Thistle in 2001 and has been dancing ever since.  They regularly go to dances in Richmond, Charlotte, Atlanta, Raleigh and Charleston.  That is probably the reason she wanted a branch so much.  
She has been Secretary of the Greensboro group for 3 years and so has been in touch with a lot of people and looking forward to meeting more through the Branch. 

Eilean,  the Director of the Shelby group,  is a native of Hawick  in the Scottish Border country and learned Scottish Country Dancing in her early schooldays.  

As Eilean Graham, she graduated with a B.Sc. (Chemistry) degree from Edinburgh University and then joined   ICI Fibres in  their  Research group at  Harrogate, Yorkshire.

She moved to Shelby, NC in 1976 with daughters Julie and Susan when her husband, Mike, transferred from ICI in England to the then Fiber Industries.

In 1984, Eilean  co-founded  the Shelby Scottish Country Dancers and has taught and led the group for the past  twenty five years.
 

Eilean received her Preliminary RSCDS Teaching certificate  in 1989  with the Northern Virginia Branch.
Two years later, she earned her full RSDCS Teaching accreditation at the RSCDS Summer School at St. Andrews.
 

In 1994, Eilean was appointed  Director of Scottish Country Dancing for the Loch Norman Highland Games held each April near Charlotte, North Carolina.   Under her guidance, the Loch Norman dances have progressively  increased in popularity.
 

Since retirement from Girl Scouts, Eilean has taught numerous workshops in New Orleans, Atlanta,  Florida, Columbus,OH and at the week long Thistle School in Banner Elk in the NC mountains.

Patricia (Pat) Young is a 13 year veteran of Scottish country dancing and has attended Thistle School of Scottish Country Dancing every year since she started dancing.  Her only comment is that she wishes she had started Scottish Country Dancing earlier so that she could have met more of the wonderful people who dance.  Most of her dancing time was spent in New Orleans, LA and she now lives and works at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, NC.
 Her experience as a former board member of The Caledonian Society of New Orleans serves her well as Treasurer of The Carolinas Branch of RSCDS.