Burns Supper: 23 January, 2016
The unfortunate haggis was led to the table by Chloe Vlasto (Poozie) and Dr Carr shared a few first thoughts with it.
The remains were scraped together and Chloe carried them off again to the delicate refrain of Tom Brown's bagpipes. Kirsty Buchanan gave us the Selkirk Grace and this year The Imortal Memory was from John Purser, of BBC broadcasting fame. Lots of people thought it was such a polished piece that they wanted to read again. And you can, right here: Purser Immortal Memory. (Small print: the copyright, in whole and in part, is the property of John Purser).
Chris Allen delivered the Toast to Lassies in a North American accent and was firmly put in his place by the reply from Antonia Allen, not in a North American accent. But that's not all. Titch Frier got everyone singing, the Portmoak Players had more classical arrangements of songs, Elaine Carruthers dusted off Tam O'Shanter and Jessie Pryde did a song that Burns wished he'd written himself, The Pan Drap. Louise Batchelor reminded everyone that this whole thing is just a thinnly disguised Portmoak Community Steering Group managment meeting with PowerPoints and everything. The audience challenge this year was to improve on Burn's words for any of his songs. Here's the winner (it was that sort of night):
Gin a doggy meet a doggy, comin' thro' the Moss,
De-fecatin' ilka doggy, disnae gie a toss;
Ilka walker has a baggie - that they left at hame;
Sae ilka path gets awfi crappy - tis mingin' a' the same.
The official report from the Kinross Newsletter is here.