Burns Lunch 2026

Since last year's Burns Lunch was such a success, we did it again.

Luckily, the weather was kinder to us Scots this year and the brunt of the Winter storms were further South so things went more smoothly than last year.

Again, we had the services of chef John Maclean, a couple of willing kitchen staff, and Graham Walker from Neilston and District Pipe Band had again volunteered to pipe in the haggis, and John Adams' friend Michael Carrol was happy to come back and do the traditional "Address to a Haggis", followed by one of Burns' classic poems.

Oh, and the bowling club bar would be open! 🥳

So, again we gathered in Neilston Bowling Club lounge at noon and the drams, for those that imbibed the cratur, had been poured, then the strains of bagpipe music could be heard coming down the hall, getting louder and louder...

The haggis was duly piped in to much hand clapping, then Michael Carroll, after giving us an explanation of some of the Scots language used, recited the "Address to a Haggis" , written by Robert Burns in 1786.

And then, after a bit of background to the story, Michael Carroll recited the famous Burns poem "Tam O'Shanter", written by Burns in 1790.

Many thanks to John Adams for asking him to come back and do it all again this year.

Many thanks to Raymond Kerr for organizing the event, John Mclean for the cooking (assisted by Raymond Kerr and James Kennedy), Graham Walker for piping in the haggis, Michael Carrol for his Burns knowledge and very entertaining deliveries of his poems, and last but not least, to Paula for opening the bar! Apologies if I've missed anyone out.

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/

With Scots now recognised as an official language, for those interested, here are some resources like the history, dictionary and a reader here:

• https://www.scots-online.org/

• https://www.scotslanguage.com/

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

• https://neilstonpipeband.com/

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

You can find out more details of Neilston Bowling Club on their Facebook page:

• https://www.facebook.com/neilstonbowlingclub.co.uk/