Her work as director and choreographer of one of the best highland dance teams in the world has put Bathurst on the map.

Although she will continue to mentor young students across Australia, after 54 years she recently retired from full-time teaching.

Cheryl was born in Melbourne and moved to Tamworth, her father's home town, when she was four years old. 

She loved dance from the time she was a little girl, but found her calling in highland dance when she was 11. By the age of 14 she was teaching. 

"I was a skinny kid who got sick a lot, so mum sent me off dancing," she said. 

"I thrived on competition. I was very disciplined and driven. I did play a few sports, but dance was always it for me."

Highland dancing was very popular in the New England area. 

Cheryl had private highland dance lessons in Tamworth for 12 months and showed such an aptitude for it that she was sent to Newcastle to study.

"In those days dancers who learned in Tamworth didn't dance anywhere but in the North West of NSW," she explained.

"I continued having classes in Newcastle right up until I retired from competitive dance."

She was the Australian champion at the age of 23 and in 1972 went on to the World Championship, where she placed sixth. 

Cheryl founded OzScot Australia in 2000. 

OzScot is known throughout the world of highland dancing as a dance group that excels at contemporised traditional steps and movements, as well as producing highly synchronised dance movements and formations that impress both traditional and modern audiences.

"They are considered one of the most innovative teams in the world," Cheryl said.

"Performers are selected from all over Australia, but I make sure there are always between five and nine Bathurst dancers in the team. The lead dancer always has to be a Bathurst girl.

"Bathurst people don't realise the extraordinary quality of dancers we have trained here. My girls have worked hard and I want them to be the best.”

OzScot has performed for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo five times in Edinburgh and twice in Australia, including accepting an invitation to perform in the Spiegeltent Edinburgh Festival in 2012 while performing at the Edinburgh Tattoo. 

The dance group has also performed three times at the Virginia Festival International Tattoo, three times at the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, at the Netherlands International Military Tattoo and three times at the Basel Tattoo in Switzerland where the group received top billing in 2014.

One of the highlights for Cheryl has been meeting Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh in 2004 when OzScot was part of the Commonwealth contingent that danced at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations for the Queen at the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh. 

OzScot performed for the Sultan of Oman and an audience of 21,000 people in 2005. 

This all expenses paid trip was for a one-off performance at the Oman Police Military Tattoo to celebrate the Sultan's birthday. 

They were the first female dance team and the first Australians to take part. 

Another highlight came in 2012 when the OzScot Dancers went to Edinburgh for the first time as an all-Australian act.

Cheryl was also the first Australian to judge at the World Championships in Scotland. 

She met her husband Bob in Tamworth. Both were prominent in the community - Cheryl as a dancer and Bob as a sportsman.

Thirty-nine years ago the couple moved to Blayney for two-and-a-half years before relocating to Bathurst.

The couple have two sons - Andrew plays the bagpipes at a very high level and Cameron plays the drums. Both boys also played sport at a state level.

"We have a very wonderful, fulfilling life here in Bathurst," Cheryl said. "I have no idea how many dancers have walked through my door over the years, but it’s a lot. 

"I really loved the challenge of succeeding as a dancer and worked hard to be at the top. 

"Then I wanted to be the best teacher I could be. I wasn't happy to just be a judge. I wanted to be a highly sought after judge. 

"I can't do anything by halves," she laughed.