We’re absolutely delighted to be heading back to Speyside this spring for what promises to be a fantastic night of music, dancing, and whisky-fuelled cheer!
There’s something truly special about a Speyside crowd. Maybe it’s the warm Highland welcome, maybe it’s the incredible local drams, or maybe it’s just the magic that happens when great people gather for a proper ceilidh. Whatever it is, the atmosphere is always electric, and we’re already buzzing to be part of it again.
Whether you’re a seasoned ceilidh dancer or a complete beginner, you’ll be in safe hands. We’ll guide you through every step, from the classics to a few energetic favourites, no experience required, just bring your dancing shoes and a big smile. Expect lively tunes, lots of laughs, and a dance floor full of energy from start to finish.
And of course, being part of the Spirit of Speyside Festival means you can make a full day (or weekend!) of it, exploring some of the finest whisky in the world before joining us for a night of traditional Scottish celebration.
🎻 Event Details Date: Saturday 2nd May 2026 Venue: Grant Hall, Rothes Occasion: Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Ceilidh
We’re really looking forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting plenty of new ones. If you’re in Speyside for the festival, come along and dance the night away with us, it’s going to be a belter.
See you on the dancefloor! — Iron Broo Ceilidh Band
The most wonderful time of the year is just around the corner, and what better way to embrace the festive spirit than by attending the Iron Broo Christmas Ceilidh on December 23rd, 2023, at the Star Ballroom Aberdeen? This enchanting event promises an unforgettable night of music, dancing, and camaraderie that will leave you with cherished memories for years to come. Here’s why you should mark your calendar and secure your spot for this fantastic holiday celebration.
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1. Experience the Magic of a Ceilidh:
Step into a world of traditional Scottish music and dancing as you experience the magic of a Ceilidh. The Iron Broo Christmas Ceilidh brings together the rich cultural heritage of Scotland with the joyful atmosphere of the holiday season. Whether you’re a seasoned dancer or a novice, the ceilidh offers a welcoming environment where everyone can enjoy the fun and celebrate the art of traditional dance.
Iron Broo Ceilidh Band
2. Embrace Festive Cheer:
The holiday season is all about spreading joy and happiness, and what better way to do that than by dancing and laughing with friends and family? The Iron Broo Christmas Ceilidh provides the perfect opportunity to let loose and embrace the festive cheer. Whether you’re attending with a group or flying solo, you’ll find yourself immersed in an atmosphere of merriment and goodwill.
3. Live Music That Moves Your Soul:
The heart and soul of any ceilidh lies in its music, and the Iron Broo Christmas Ceilidh will not disappoint. Prepare to be swept away by the lively tunes of traditional Scottish instruments like the fiddle, accordion, mandolin, Irish Banjo and songs. The captivating melodies will inspire you to hit the dance floor and twirl to the rhythm of the music.
4. Create Lasting Memories:
Attending the Iron Broo Christmas Ceilidh is more than just an event; it’s an opportunity to create lasting memories. From the energetic dances to the heartwarming moments shared with loved ones, the memories you make at this event will become cherished stories you’ll recount for years to come. Capture the essence of the holiday spirit and the joy of togetherness in a single night.
5. Celebrate Local Culture:
The Iron Broo Christmas Ceilidh celebrates the rich cultural heritage of Scotland, providing a unique window into the traditions that have shaped the nation. This event is a chance to appreciate the artistry and history of Scottish music and dance, while also fostering a sense of community and belonging.
6. Dress to Impress: – optional 🙂
Don’t miss the opportunity to dress up and look your best for this special occasion. Pull out your finest tartan, kilts, and elegant dresses, and step into the Star Ballroom with a sense of style and sophistication that befits the grandeur of the event.
7. Build Connections:
The Iron Broo Christmas Ceilidh is not just about dancing; it’s also about connecting with others who share your enthusiasm for culture, music, and celebration. Forge new friendships, strengthen existing bonds, and revel in the unity that comes from being part of a joyful gathering.
Conclusion:
As the holiday season approaches, the Iron Broo Christmas Ceilidh on December 23rd, 2023, at the Star Ballroom Aberdeen presents a magical opportunity to immerse yourself in the beauty of Scottish culture, music, and dance. From the lively music that will set your feet tapping to the warm camaraderie that fills the air, this event promises an evening of joy, laughter, and unforgettable memories. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this enchanting celebration and create cherished experiences that will stay with you long after the festivities come to an end. Book your tickets, mark your calendar, and get ready to dance the night away in a celebration like no other!
Don’t forget you get some of the finest Stovies and Macaroni & Cheese around from the Beach Ballroom’s chef and catering team.
Tonight is the night for our ceilidh fundraiser for Diabetes. It’s also one of the hottest days of the year forecast so far. We are in Aberdeen, so I won’t hold my breath. I hope we can get a decent turnout so we can raise some money for our efforts. It’s a BYOB so it can be a great night even if you are not fit for the dancing.
ceilidh poster
Ceilidh Guinea Pigs needed
Tonight we will attempt a new dance called the Cornish Six Hand Reel. It’s a special request from Fred who has been kept awake at night by this dance. The voices in his head that won’t let him sleep have been whispering it over an over again for the last few weeks. He remembered it from an old Ossian album I think he said.
I’ll try and think of some nice tunes to go with it 😉
If you want to swat up on it here are the steps and a link to a YouTube Video from erlebnis-tanz.de
1-8 As a line of 6, take 8 steps down the hall, balance twice (4 kicks), and turn round 8 9-16 Take 8 steps back up the hall, balance twice 8 17-32 Turn the face your partner, Reel of six 16 33-36 Right hand turn your partner 4 37-40 Left hand turn your partner 4 41-44 Two hand turn your partner 4 45-48 Do-si-do your partner 4 49-56 All take your partner in a promenade hold and double cast left, with the top couple forming an arch 8 57-64 All under and swing 8
Hope to see you tonight at the Ceilidh. Doors open 7.30pm. Bring your own drinks and snacks. Tickets available here or on the door tonight.
Iron Broo will be hosting the Christmas ceilidh this year at the wonderful Carmelite Hotel in the centre of Aberdeen on mad Friday 23rd December. Please come along and get away from the wrong kind of madness and help us raise funds to help local people who are down on their luck this Christmas. Our target is to raise £500 to help the Cyrenians in their good work to provide for the homeless and hungry in Aberdeen this Christmas. It is an outrage that in the oil rich city of Aberdeen, so many people have been left stranded, dry and hungry… it’s not just this Christmas. This is a problem that is growing and is reaching through our society and it knows no boundaries of class. In this time of austerity when good charities like the Cyrenians are facing their biggest challenge, their funding is being cut. This is the wrong kind of madness. Please come along and push us over our target and help dance the madness away…for a while. Tickets are £20 including a Stovie or Macaroni dinner at half time. Doors open from 7.30, ceilidh will kick off at 8pm till midnight, bar will be open later. Please buy your tickets in advance from charlieabel@ironbroo.scot (07802 861390) it saves us having to find extra people to man the doors and take money when we need to be playing. We also need numbers for the chef!
We will have a raffle so if you can bring any donations it would be most welcome.
Aberdeen Cyrenians began in 1968 as a soup kitchen run in the city’s Castlegate. Organised by students from Aberdeen University, this service provided basic food to a growing number of people. It became increasingly obvious that there was a high demand for further support services and eventually a night shelter was opened.
Over the next four decades Aberdeen Cyrenians opened the first ever wet hostel in Britain, the first Women’s hostel in Aberdeen, day centres, emergency accommodation for young people, medium-term accommodation for young and old, community & housing support services and an employment and education service. An estimated 50,000 homeless people or people at risk of homelessness have been supported by Aberdeen Cyrenians over the past 48 years. Cyrenians support comes in many forms and in 2015 included:
10585 nights of residential accommodation care
4781 Drop In appointments
3621 hot meals eaten
564 showers for rough sleepers
243 sleeping bags handed out
There has been a dramatic rise in these numbers for 2016 as more people affected by family issues, job losses and high living costs come to us for help. As you begin to plan your Christmas with family and friends please take a moment to think about those in our community who have no home to go to this festive season, those who will not see their family and friends, and those who will spend their Christmas Day with Aberdeen Cyrenians.
We had the honour of the Iron Broo ceilidh band perform at our wedding on 16th May, they were outstanding. Talented, organised and such a lovely bunch of guys
Response from the owner:Thanks Ellen, we really enjoyed playing for you. Such a lovely evening. And thanks for your kind hospitality. All the best 👍
We hired Iron Broo to play our ceilidh at a party to celebrate our recent marriage. The band were great, played a good variety of ceilidh tunes, called the dances and incorporated some impressive rhythmic vocals alongside playing. All the guest had a great time and enjoyed the ceilidh - thanks a lot!
We booked Iron Broo Ceilidh Band for our wedding in July 2025 and had a fantastic evening with them. The band were highly experienced and helped everyone get involved in the dancing. I would highly recommend them for any Ceilidh event.
Iron Broo played for our very first wedding at Kinclune House & Estate in our brand new wedding barn. Iron Broo were absolutely brilliant! The wedding party were up and dancing all night. Half of them were not Scottish, so Charlie did a great job of calling so that everyone could join in. I can't recommend Iron Broo highly enough if you're planning a wedding or special celebration!
Response from the owner:Thanks Aylwin, it was an honour to be your first band! We look forward to the next time, the new venue is amazing and the staff were so kind and attentive. Everyone was raving about the place. I'm sure you are going to be busy! All the best, Charlie
Iron Broo recently played a ceilidh and disco for our wedding. Charlie was easy to deal and answered all our questions very quickly. Both the ceilidh and the disco were very well received with the guests of our wedding complementing the band and the music.
We booked Iron Broo for our wedding at Mar Lodge in Braemar in July and they were fantastic! We had a very international group with about half the guests having travelled from New Zealand and Charlie was great at calling the dances and everyone had a a lot of fun, even the teenagers loved it! Thanks Iron Broo!
Response from the owner:Thanks Amy. Great fun playing for you and really nice to meet more of the Abel clan 👍
We hired the Iron Broo duo for a charity ceilidh in February 2024 and they had everyone up on their feet until the very end! Thank you so much for a fantastic evening with your band - lots of classics and few special twists which made for a super fun evening. Would definitely recommend Iron Broo and hire again in the future!
Response from the owner:Thanks very much Jenna, it was great fun to play for you! All the best, Charlie
Iron Broo played at our wedding ceilidh, playing an array of instruments and gave instructions for each dance. Excellent band who were very flexible, cheerful and skilled. Highly recommended.
Response from the owner:Thanks Keri, much appreciated. We had a great time and enjoyed every minute, it was a pleasure to be a part of your special day.
The Iron Broo Duo threw us a fantastic party to celebrate our wedding in September. They happily accommodated some very last minute changes and executed a little surprise absolutely perfectly! They had a great sense of humour when some of the dances didn't go to plan (no fault of the band, entirely the fault of the beer!) and soon had us back on track. A brilliant band to hire if you want to have lots and lots of fun!
From the moment we started to plan our wedding, we knew we wanted Iron Broo! With my wife having attended a few of their ceilidhs in the past, she told me that Iron Broo were the best ceilidh band she'd ever seen. Of course at first, with our wedding being my first ceilidh, I was a little bit nervous but I trusted her with this and I can say I am truly glad that I did. We couldn't have asked for anything more, the music and dancing was incredible (as per usual). Many of our guests had also never attended a ceilidh before, but they made the process of learning all the steps easy and everyone ended up having an amazing time (myself included. ) They were also extremely accommodating, able to play a requested song for our first dance with less than a weeks notice! Thank you so much Iron Broo! It was a pleasure to have you at our wedding and we will be sure to catch you at future events.
Response from the owner:Thanks Peter, it was a pleasure to play for your special day. We had a great time and everyone was wonderful. See you soon, Charlie 👍
They recently played at our wedding on 4th November 23 and were fantastic! A lot of guests had never been to a ceilidh before and they all really enjoyed it, especially the kids! We highly recommend Iron Broo!
We hired the Iron Broo duo for a corporate ceilidh and they had everyone up on their feet until the very end! Thank you so much Charlie for performing for us - everyone had a fantastic evening with your band. Would definitely recommend Iron Broo and hire again in the future!
Response from the owner:Thanks Jenna, for a lovely review and we had great fun playing for you. Hope to see you again soon 👍
Iron Broo are well worth hiring for a special celebration. Great musicians who know how to get everyone involved. Caller ensured everyone knew what to do and they were happy to keep it fast & furious when no one knew how to waltz! If you are thinking of having a ceilidh I would highly recommend hiring them.
Response from the owner:Thanks Helen, much appreciated. We had a great time playing for you 😄 All the best 👍
Iron Broo played at our family and friends ceilidh in July. It was a two piece band - talented musicians who played in varying styles. Iron Broo chose the dances - a mix of traditional and new ceilidh dances. The explanations of the dances were very clear. Many of our guests commented on how good Iron Broo were. We would definitely recommend them.
Response from the owner:Thanks Ian & Kathy, we loved playing for you! It was a pleasure, your family and friends were great fun. All the best 🪗😊
Iron Broo made a perfect day even better, they had everyone up dancing and mixing, from 3 year olds upwards. Guests who had never been to a ceilidh before had the best time and plenty of laughs trying to get the moves right. We highly recommend them to get the party started
Response from the owner:Thanks Cathy 👍 we had a great time. Much appreciated
Hired for ceilidh at Wedding, very accomodating and friendly. Played a requested tune for our first dance. Called/instructed on the dances which was very necessary and useful for people unfamiliar. Flexible on day when time for break and end called. Hired 4 players including a fiddle and sounded great! Had heard play before, and look forward to hearing again.
Response from the owner:Thanks Robin and Chen, it was ace fun playing for you both 👍 all the best ❤️
They came all the way to Luxembourg to do a ceilidh with our Year 8 students and it was simply fantastic! They really motivated our students to take part in the dancing and the students ended up loving it! Thank you so much again! It was a great event!
They are very very good musicians who are masters of their style, but please understand they are not a versatile band and I am sure that is why they are the cream of the cream of ceilidh, however Charlie really takes advantage of his disco choice to make the night round. He adapted to my needs and I am happy to have decided to hire his services.
Response from the owner:Thanks David, it was great to play for you and I really enjoyed the Venezuelan music “crazy hour” 👍🎶
The best Ceilidh band ever, our whole wedding was jumping from start to finish. My English relatives couldn't get enough of the dancing and were guided so well. Thoroughly recommend Charlie Abel and all of his brilliant 5 piece band.
Response from the owner:Thanks Juliet, it was a pleasure to be a part of your special day. It was great fun with excellent company. 🎶🏴👍🥰
The band (two piece) were absolutely brilliant. They were all set up in good time and the music was fantastic. Charlie called the dances where needed - everyone had an absolute ball! Thanks a million.
Response from the owner:Thanks Annette, it was great fun. A super audience to play for. I hope we can play for you again sometime, any excuse for a Ceilidh 🎶👍🪗🎶🙏🏼
Amazing wedding band!! Played both a ceilidh set and disco afterparty. Listened to all my crazy plans and created an awesome evening for all my guests. Super value for money and really easy to communicate with.
Response from the owner:Thanks Kaitlyn! We had a great time, your guests were ace fun to play for! All the best, Charlie
absolutely amazing!! the dances and the music of the duo was the best and we loved every minute of the time we had! They were also the nicest people ever
Response from the owner:Thanks 😊 so glad you enjoyed it, thanks for a lovely review 👍🤩
We were lucky enough to have Iron Broo play for us at our wedding, where half the guests were Scottish and experienced ceilidh and reeling dancers and the other half were German and had no idea what was going on! The fact that Iron Broo got EVERYONE on the dance floor and partaking enthusiastically in both Scottish and German dances is a testament to their legendary music and DJ'ing! The evening simply wouldn't have been the same without them. Thank you so much Iron Broo for making our multi-national wedding such a cracking party!
Response from the owner:Thanks Chrissie, it was a pleasure to play for you, everybody was so keen to dance. The German Knoten disco was also such fun. Please let us know if we can help you again. We have played in Germany before, quite a few times for weddings. If you can find another excuse for a ceilidh.... :-)
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