Dancing with the Tartan Pimpernel

I WOULD like to add to your article on Dr Donald Caskie (“Tartan Pimpernel’s heroics take to the stage”, The Herald, October 25).

When I was an English assistant at the Lycee Voltaire in Paris in 1954/55, living at the Cite Universitaire, several of the British students and one or two Europeans attended the Sunday morning service at the Scots Kirk. The church was then housed in a cinema in the avenue Hoche, near Etoile, while the new kirk was being built, and Donald Caskie always greeted us warmly.

I quote from my autobiography: “Dr Caskie supervised a weekly social event for us in the form of a Scottish country dance evening on a Friday night in the Unesco building, which was also attended by others of various nationalities. I had never done any country dancing before beyond an eightsome reel, but I very soon learned to dance such favourites as Hamilton House, the Glasgow Highlanders and the Duke of Perth, among others. One quite prestigious occasion resulted from all this: we were invited by the Franco-scottish Society of Paris to do an exhibition evening on the Ile de la Cite. This of course meant that those who were without kilts had to hire or borrow one. We were all beautifully turned out, with the ladies in white dresses and tartan sashes.”

I have done very little Scottish country dancing since, but these memories are very fresh, all due to the big-heartedness of Donald Caskie.

John Campkin,

25 William Street, Dunoon.