Burns Lunch

It being the end of January, tradition pushed us towards hosting a Burns Lunch for the lads (a Supper was out as we're not allowed out late).

We have an excellent chef in the shape of one John Maclean, a couple of willing kitchen staff (we didn't need to blackmail anybody) and Pipe Major Russell Mechan from Neilston and District Pipe Band had volunteered to pipe in the haggis and deliver the address to it so we were good to go...

...then Storm Éowyn struck and blew away our plans.

So, it's a week later and the Pipe Major is on holiday so we don't have a piper, and the bowling club had a funeral booked for 1:30pm so we'd be tight on time.

Luckily, Graham Walker from Neilston and District Pipe Band stepped in for the piping in of the haggis. Then, one of our lads, John Adams, mentioned that he knew someone that could do the address and did an excellent rendition of Tam O'Shanter and we had plenty of willing hands to get the place cleared for the funeral so, once again, we were all set.

We gathered in the members lounge at noon and the drams had been poured, courtesy of Neilston Bowling Club so many thanks to them for that nice gesture. All we needed now was the haggis to be piped in...

...and it did that, although I missed the entrance fiddling with the camera settings and got jammed in the corner trying to get a video of it. Michael Carroll delivered the address and we got the haggis, neeps and tatties served.

And then Michael Carroll gave us Burns's Tam O'Shanter, starting with an explanation of the story and then an excellent recitation of the poem. Many thanks to John Adams for asking him to do it for us.

We all had a tasty and filling lunch with some excellent entertainment as well. Hopefully, we'll look at doing something similar next year with maybe a bit more time, and nae storms.

If you want to know more about Robert Burns and his poetry, here are some resources:

• • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burns

  • https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Burns

...and if you'd like to find out a bit more about the Burns Night tradition and some of the poems:

• https://www.scotland.org/events/burns-night

• https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/address-haggis/

• https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/tam-o-shanter-tale/

You can find out more about Neilston and District Pipe Band on their web site or Facebook:

• https://neilstonpipeband.com/

• https://www.facebook.com/neilstonband