It has to be lamb for St Andrew’s Day celebrations
Now entering its fourth year, the annual November drive to encourage the country to celebrate St Andrew’s Day with lamb has seen a range of organisations come together to help make the dish a regular tradition for Scots around the world.
The marketing drive has seen the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland( IA AS ); the National Farmers Union Scotland ( NFUS); Quality Meat Scotland ( QMS); and the National Sheep Association Scotland ( NSAS) come together to boost sales at a time when the meat is plentiful.
“Rated amongst the best in the world, Scotch Lamb is currently at its peak of seasonality,” stated George Purves, managing director of United Auctions ( UA), who originally set up the campaign alongside Willie Mitchell during their time on the Scottish Enterprise Rural Leadership Programme.
“We have been overwhelmed with the support for the campaign over the last few years and this year we would like to see households, schools and businesses throughout Scotland get involved to help make Scotch Lamb PGI synonymous with St Andrew’s Day, just like haggis for Burns’ Night and turkey for Christmas.”
Revealing that marts around the country would be donating lambs to support the drive, fellow UA director, Christopher Sharp, said that St Andrew’s Day was a great Scottish day - but it was often under- celebrated:
“There’s not been much to celebrate the last few months, and so this is our way of coming together in our communities and giving people a chance to celebrate something, within the allowed restrictions,” Mr Sharp said.
“Auction marts have played a vital role in the food chain, ensuring the nation has been fed during the pandemic and we want to continue that by saying thank you to the food chain and everyone in it."
He said that IAAS members would be contacting 30,000 f arming customers across Scotland to help spread the word while other organisations involved would also be reaching out to communities and businesses to ensure lamb was on the menu for St Andrew’s Day.
“We are delighted two local high schools have already accepted our offer to supply lamb to their food studies department, which will be invaluable in terms of widening pupils' experiences, promoting healthy eating of local produce and also of course, forging important partnerships between the schools and their local auction mart,” said Sharp.
Last year, UA and local farmers gave away 50 lambs to organisations such as a scouts club which had a lamb curry on their camp- out, and a high school whose pupils produced three lamb recipes. Hotels and restaurants also took part with St Andrew’s Day menus, as did rugby clubs with daylong celebrations.
Director of marketing and communications at QMS, Les ley Cameron, added: “We are delighted to be supporting United Auctions once again with this fantastic campaign.
Mrs Cameron added that the campaign was also seeking local organisations, schools, and businesses to include special lamb dishes on their menus.