A night celebrating love of The Bard
Music makes first meeting of new session
Kilbryde Burns Club president John Haining welcomed a capacity audience to the Village Bowling Club pavilion for the first meeting of the 2018/19 session.
The special guests were Edinburgh-based folk group Ragged Glory who had been invited to give a concert of songs in tribute to our national bard, Robert Burns.
Joining the audience of club members were president of the Lanarkshire Association of Burns’ Clubs Eric Budgell and members of other Lanarkshire Burns’ Clubs, including Allanton Jolly Beggars and Larkhall, as well as friends and family of Kilbryde members.
Ragged Glory – whose members are normally May and Jim Weatherston, George Archibald and Charlie Milne – first came together as a folk group in 2006.
And they achieved immediate success and a formidable reputation on the Scottish folk music scene, winning great acclaim for their performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
They sing a w ide repertoire of Scottish songs, but focus especially on those written or collected and polished by Robert Burns.
On the evening, however, only May and Jim could attend as both George and Charlie were on holiday.
The duo opened their programme with a rousing rendition of Killiecrankie and then went on to perform a number of the bard’s most tender, romantic lyrics and some of his best ‘battle- cries’. Well-known songs such as Now Westlin’ Winds, Ye Banks and Braes, John Anderson, my Jo, and Ae Fond Kiss’ were interspersed with classics like ‘Ye Jacobites by Name, A Man’s a Man for A’ That’ and, of course, ‘Scots Wha Hae’.
Particularly well received were some of Burns’ lesserknown gems such as The Lea Rig, The Rantin’ Dog and Dainty Davie.
They also included some well-known Glasgow street songs in their performance, to the delight of the audience.
May and Jim concluded their programme with that favourite tribute to Robert Burns, The Star O’ Rabbie Burns.
Two club members, May Lobban and Harvey Littlejohn, contributed to the evening’s entertainment by reciting a short poem and singing My Love is like a Red, Red Rose respectively. Immediate past president John Mitchell gave the vote of thanks on behalf of the audience, noting that Ragged Glory had delivered an outstanding performance which had been appreciated by everyone in attendance.
The evening was rounded off in the traditional manner with the company singing Auld Lang Syne.
The next meeting of Kilbryde Burns Club will take place on Monday, November 5 at 7.30pm in the Village Bowling Club pavilion and the guest speaker will be Ayrshire Burnsian Jimmy Law.
For further information on this and other Burns-related events being held locally and around Glasgow and Lanarkshire, contact club secretary Patricia Leslie on (01355) 235189.