THE ST ANDREWS PLATINUM REEL

Taught/practised on: 2013 October 13 th November 3 rd November 24 th

THE ST ANDREWS PLATINUM REEL (R8x32) Lewis N Derrick Platinum - 70 Years Dancing in St Andrews 1- 8 1s set & dance down below 3s, cast up 1 place to face 1 st corner (2s up on bars 5/6) 9-16 1s dance ½ diagonal reel of 4 with 1 st corners & pass LSh to face 2 nd corner, ½ diagonal reel with 2 nd corners & pass LSh to face 3 rd corner (position) 17-24 1s turn 3 rd corners RH & partner LH to face 4 th corner (position), turn 4 th corners RH & turn partner LH (M facing up, L down) 25-32 1s dance ½ reels of 3 across giving LSh to 3 rd corner (position) & ½ reels of 3 on sides RSh to 4 th corner (position) to end in 2 nd place

St Andrews is a former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. The city is home to the University of St Andrews, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world, the oldest in Scotland and one of Britain's most prestigious. The University, which dates back to 1410, is an integral part of the burgh, and during term time students make up 40% of the city's population. The most famous undergraduate (Bejant) in recent times is Prince William. The earliest recorded name of the area is Muckross (from Scottish Gaelic Mucrois, meaning "Boar's head/peninsula"). After the founding of a religious settlement in Muckross in around AD 370, the name changed to Cennrígmonaid, and then anglicised to Kilrymont. The name St Andrews derives from the city's claim to be the resting place of bones of the apostle Andrew. According to legend, St Regulus (or Rule) brought the relics to Kilrymont, where a shrine was established for their safekeeping and veneration while Kilrymont was renamed in honour of the saint. In AD 906, the town became the seat of the bishop of Alba, with the boundaries of the see being extended to include land between the River Forth and River Tweed. In 940, King Constantine III abdicated and took the position of abbot of the monastery of St Andrews. The burgh soon became the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland, a position which was held until the Scottish Reformation and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The Holy Trinity Church was where John Knox first preached in public (June 1547), and whence he returned to give an inflammatory sermon on 4 June 1559 which led to the stripping of both the cathedral and the burgh's ecclesiastical status. After 1559 the town fell into decay and remained in depression until the 19 th century and the attraction of the golf courses. Even St Andrews University considered relocating to Perth around 1697-8. The famous cathedral, built in 1160 and the largest in Scotland, now lies in ruins. St Andrews has a temperate maritime climate, which is relatively mild despite its northerly latitude. Winters are not as cold as one might expect, considering that Moscow and Labrador in Newfoundland lie on the same latitude, when daytime temperatures can fall below freezing and average around 4°C. However, the town is subject to strong winds. Night-time frosts are common; however, snowfall is more rare. Rainfall, at little more than 650mm per year makes St Andrews one of the driest parts of Scotland, shielded from Atlantic weather systems by several mountain ranges. Sunshine, averaging in excess of 1,500 hours a year, is amongst the highest for Scotland, and comparable to inland parts of Southern England. St Andrews is also known worldwide as the "home of golf", in part because the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, founded in 1754, exercises legislative authority over the game worldwide (except in the United States and Mexico). According to a 1552 document, the "playing at golf" on the links adjacent to the "water of eden" was granted permission by Archbishop Hamilton. The most famous golf course in the town is the Old Course, which dates back to medieval times, and was purchased by the town council in 1894. The course is an Open Championship course - which was first staged in 1873. Famous winners at St Andrews have included: Old Tom Morris (1861, 1862, 1867 & 1874), Bobby Jones (1927 & 1930 British Amateur), Jack Nicklaus (1970 & 1978) and Tiger Woods (2000 & 2005). According to Jack Nicklaus, "if a golfer is going to be remembered, he must win at St Andrews". There are seven golf courses in total - Old, New, Jubilee, Eden, Strathtyrum, Balgove and the Castle - surrounding the western approaches of the town. The Castle was only added in 2007. West Sands Beach in St Andrews served as the set for the opening scene in the movie "Chariots of Fire" and this scene was re-enacted during the 2012 Olympics torch relay, with the beach also featuring in the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony. The two mile long beach is adjacent to the famous St Andrews Links golf course. Sand dunes on the beach, which have long protected the golf course, are themselves in danger of eroding away, and are the subject of a restoration project.