Scottish Societies

There are several Scottish Societies here in Central Florida and they often provide Scholarship money to our Scottish Highland Dancers. It is much appreciated as it helps with travel cost and private and class instruction. To show our gratitude several of the CDPA Scottish Dancers performed at the St Andrews Burns Supper. This year Lydia Denninger, Maddie Brosonski, William Whitley, Allison Williams, Avery McHale, Courtney McHale, Maggie Scott, Hayley Venezia and Elisabeth Karpov all danced at the supper. Miss Cami was the MC and Miss Katie ran the music.

What is a Burns Supper? It is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, the author of many Scots poems. The suppers are normally held on or near the poet's birthday, 25 January, but can be held at any time. Burns suppers may be formal or informal. Both typically include haggis (a traditional Scottish dish celebrated by Burns in Address to a Haggis).

Scottish Tradition is a word that makes you think of “old World” but there are quite a few inventions we thank Scottish Inventors for because we certainly wouldn’t want to be without them. Here are some examples:

Color photography

Those Kodak moments were only possible thanks to 19th-century Scottish scientist James Maxwell, who invented the "three-color method". His theory, based on mixing red, green and blue colors of light, led him to present the world's first color photograph – inevitably of a tartan ribbon – in 1861.

Criminal fingerprinting

It wasn't until 1880 that Dr Henry Faulds, a Scottish surgeon working in Japan, realized he had the secret to catching criminals at his fingertips. He published his idea of recording fingerprints with ink, and was the first to identify fingerprints left on a glass bottle.

TV

The Wire, Mad Men, Take Me Out... you name it, we may not have had it without Scottish inventor John Logie Baird. In 1926, he became the first person to publicly demonstrate a working television system. Two years later, he gave the first demonstration of color television.