The dance was written to celebrate dance teacher Betty Thomson's fifty years' membership of the Stafford & District Caledonian Society. The Stafford Knot is the badge of the Stafford family, and has been used on their coats of arms, liveries and buildings for centuries, e.g. on tiles at Stafford Castle. The family has been pleased to grant use of their badge to certain institutions, e.g. Staffordshire County Council, the North Staffordshire Railway ("The Knotty"), Staffordshire University, etc. and from this use it has sometimes incorrectly been termed the Staffordshire Knot. The correct term remains the Stafford Knot, however.
