Northside Promenaders
Northside Promenaders - Mainstream / Plus - Zillmere
Northside Promenaders History (As I recall it)
During 2003, I was asked by Russell Mole and Helen Welsch, if I’d be interested in starting a new club in the Northern Suburbs of Brisbane. Of course the answer was - Yes!
Helen and Russell found the hall and rented it on a Wednesday Night for a new beginner class.
So in February 2004 “Northside Promenaders” was born at the Geebung Baptist Church hall.
A year or so later, some of the Mainstream dancers were interested in learning Plus and I wanted to learn to call Plus, so we started on Thursday Nights.
Later we realised, that we had virtually split the club in half and there was not enough dancers to keep 2 nights running. The next year we decided that we would move all “Northside” activities to Thursday night. We started dancing Plus from 7.00pm and Mainstream from 7.30pm until 9.30pm. By the end of 2008, Helen and Russell wanted to scale back their involvement with square dancing, so for the start of 2009, Rosalie and I took over the running of Northside Promenaders completely. The club was growing slowly and we were all having fun.
A few years later, there were rumblings about the Church hall being sold, which meant thinking about finding a new home. Not an easy job. Slowly, over a period of time, with the uncertainty of whether we would be able to stay, the search was on for a new hall again. After exhaustive searching, we found the Buffalo Hall in Zillmere. Very few of our dancers would have to travel any further, for some it was closer to home. So in October 2013, Northside Promenaders moved to Zillmere and we are all happy again.
The Buffalo Lodge people really seem to want us to be there and are happy for us to stay as long as we want to.
In February 2014, the Club celebrated it’s 10th Birthday in conjunction with my 20 years as a caller.
The Bald Hills Memorial Hall was filled to capacity with 88 Dancers including 8 Callers.
We decided at the start, that we would do things a little differently. Northside Promenaders does not have a yearly membership fee.
If you would like to wear the club badge, the club will subsidise the cost of the badge (about 30%).
We don’t have a raffle each week. We have Tea, Coffee and Biscuits throughout the evening, dancers are also welcome to stay at the end of the night for a chat.
Our major function each year is our Christmas break up party, (from 2023 we are going to have 5th Thursday THEMED party nights with a raffle)
It’s a free night, but we do have a raffle. These prizes are usually donated throughout November and made into hampers for the Christmas party raffle.
We usually make a donation to a local Charity from the Christmas party proceeds. The last few years have been to the Salvation Army.
The club was dancing around 3 squares in 2017.
The club continued going well until Covid 19 hit in March 2020 and we closed for the rest of the year.
There was dancing in 2021 with some restrictions (including masks) and then later in the year we had to close again for 4 months due to Covid.
2022 was a late start in March, again due to Covid restrictions. Due to Covid and other reasons we have lost a full square of dancers and in 2023 we are dancing mostly 2 squares.
Glenn Wilson (Club Caller)
During 2003, I was asked by Russell Mole and Helen Welsch, if I’d be interested in starting a new club in the Northern Suburbs of Brisbane. Of course the answer was - Yes!
Helen and Russell found the hall and rented it on a Wednesday Night for a new beginner class.
So in February 2004 “Northside Promenaders” was born at the Geebung Baptist Church hall.
A year or so later, some of the Mainstream dancers were interested in learning Plus and I wanted to learn to call Plus, so we started on Thursday Nights.
Later we realised, that we had virtually split the club in half and there was not enough dancers to keep 2 nights running. The next year we decided that we would move all “Northside” activities to Thursday night. We started dancing Plus from 7.00pm and Mainstream from 7.30pm until 9.30pm. By the end of 2008, Helen and Russell wanted to scale back their involvement with square dancing, so for the start of 2009, Rosalie and I took over the running of Northside Promenaders completely. The club was growing slowly and we were all having fun.
A few years later, there were rumblings about the Church hall being sold, which meant thinking about finding a new home. Not an easy job. Slowly, over a period of time, with the uncertainty of whether we would be able to stay, the search was on for a new hall again. After exhaustive searching, we found the Buffalo Hall in Zillmere. Very few of our dancers would have to travel any further, for some it was closer to home. So in October 2013, Northside Promenaders moved to Zillmere and we are all happy again.
The Buffalo Lodge people really seem to want us to be there and are happy for us to stay as long as we want to.
In February 2014, the Club celebrated it’s 10th Birthday in conjunction with my 20 years as a caller.
The Bald Hills Memorial Hall was filled to capacity with 88 Dancers including 8 Callers.
We decided at the start, that we would do things a little differently. Northside Promenaders does not have a yearly membership fee.
If you would like to wear the club badge, the club will subsidise the cost of the badge (about 30%).
We don’t have a raffle each week. We have Tea, Coffee and Biscuits throughout the evening, dancers are also welcome to stay at the end of the night for a chat.
Our major function each year is our Christmas break up party, (from 2023 we are going to have 5th Thursday THEMED party nights with a raffle)
It’s a free night, but we do have a raffle. These prizes are usually donated throughout November and made into hampers for the Christmas party raffle.
We usually make a donation to a local Charity from the Christmas party proceeds. The last few years have been to the Salvation Army.
The club was dancing around 3 squares in 2017.
The club continued going well until Covid 19 hit in March 2020 and we closed for the rest of the year.
There was dancing in 2021 with some restrictions (including masks) and then later in the year we had to close again for 4 months due to Covid.
2022 was a late start in March, again due to Covid restrictions. Due to Covid and other reasons we have lost a full square of dancers and in 2023 we are dancing mostly 2 squares.
Glenn Wilson (Club Caller)
