Late Tartan Day Report- The Kandahar Reel

[ThistleDown]

Apparently there is a tradition of Canadian Highland Regiments deveoping special commemorative reels; a previous time mentioned was during internment in a WWII prisoner of war camp- by the Ross Highlanders (?) ...I'm afraid I was inattentive at first.

You are referring to the Reel of the 51st, Canuck. It was created in a POW camp by officers of the 51st Highland Regiment captured during their defense of troops retreating after Dunkirk. Not, in other words, by the CEF.

Canadian forces are in Kandahar along with those of six other nations, and have lost lives disproportionate to their numbers, but the Kandahar Reel was invented by the Black Watch of the RROS, not by the Canadian Black Watch regiment.

[Schiehallion]

Yes all true about it being Scottish Regiments and there is a link between the two Reels.
The Kandahar Reel (The Duke of Rothsay's Kandahar Reel) was devised while the Black Watch, 3rd Division The Royal Regiment of Scotland were serving in Afghanistan in 2009. Two officers Capt. Andy Colquhoun and his cousin Lt. Rob Colquhoun devised the reel. Coincidentally Major Ali Hempenstall a grandson of one of the men in The Highland 51st Division, who devised The Reel of the 51st Division,( originally called The Laufen Reel for 5 couples) in World War II , was also a serving within the Battalion in Kandahar during the summer.

See http://my.strathspey.org/anselm/stories/reelofthe51st

I have danced both Reels and they are so much better danced with exuberance in an all male set.

[Lallans]

You are referring to the Reel of the 51st, Canuck. It was created in a POW camp by officers of the 51st Highland Regiment captured during their defense of troops retreating after Dunkirk. Not, in other words, by the CEF.

Canadian forces are in Kandahar along with those of six other nations, and have lost lives disproportionate to their numbers, but the Kandahar Reel was invented by the Black Watch of the RROS, not by the Canadian Black Watch regiment.

OK I am forced to admit defeat of the Canadian invention idea and also to contratulate the UK officers on their fine development. If I misheard "Ross Highlanders" for "51st Highlanders" than anything certainly becomes possible- must be that quinine-based tonic water that came up on another note string (quinine allegedly causes deafness, even when mixed with heathful gin).