Having a ball to celebrate Burns
Club’s first major tribute to the National Bard in three years goes down a treat
After a forced absence of three years due to Covid restrictions, a liberated Stirling Burns Club came roaring back to life in the Golden Lion to celebrate our National Bard on Friday, January 27.
Under the lively chairmanship of new president David Sibbald, a giant in Burns circles worldwide, the annual supper was a sellout event of unsurpassed food, drink and entertainment.
From the minute the haggis was piped in and around the tables by Piper Tom Denham the stage was set for an evening of loud resounded mirth and laughter.
The chairman’s address to the Great Chieftain o’the Puddin’ Race was enthusiastic and animated. With the help of a ceremonial dirk he trenched its gushing entrails to reveal a glorious sight that was warm-reekin and rich, and that set the scene for the glorious feast the hotel served up to follow.
Ken Dow, anither weel kent face in the international Burns scene, had jetted home early from Australia to deliver a very moving and thought-provoking Immortal Memory. He reminded the company of why the word immortal is so relevant to Burns’ memory. Leading through the formative years of Rabbie’s life, when bedevilled by poverty and relentless toil, he still managed to acquire an education due mainly to the influence of his father and tutor. Nor did he shy away from revisionist claims that Burns was a misogynist: pointing to the many beautiful respectful words he wrote about the lassies.
Times change, in recent years the club and its annual celebration has become enriched and more enjoyable by the attendance of a growing number of women members, speakers and artistes.
Master Dow married interesting and relevant facts of Burns life with consummate skill, holding a spellbound audience completely in his hands.
Proposing the Toast to the Lassies was Martin Cassidy, who among other things is a past president of the prestigious Alloway Burns Club, President of Ayrshire Association of Burns clubs, president elect of The Glasgow Haggis Club, former amateur boxer, Specialist Midwife and funeral celebrant: a one man hatches, matches and dispatches service.
He delivered a veritable fund of humorous stories and anecdotes. A hilarious poem about a family tree as twisted as a tin of spaghetti had him convince the company how he was his own grandfather.
But if Martin’s family tree discombobulated the audience, then Councillor Rosemary Fraser’s reply had them in stitches, and at least the male half of the company shaking their heads in disbelief: of which a little more later.
Rosemary, a daughter of Ayrshire, replied on behalf of the Lassies. In a career that spans being a successful businesswoman, a social entrepreneur and politician, Rosemary has also been a magnificent fund-raiser for charity: completing 10 marathons and will shortly undertake a trek through the Sahara Desert to raise funds for Strathcarron Hospice.
She might also include physiology and mathematics in her list of achievements when she laid to rest an age old debate between the Lassies and the Laddies by revealing it is three times the length of their thumb.
The musical side of Burns’ legacy was equally well represented by Peter Nevans and his childhood friend Delia Binnie. Together they sang some of Burns’ most beautiful love songs including John Anderson My Jo and Ae Fond Kiss. Their voices are so sweet and complementary it is obvious they have worked together through many years. Peter also delivered a perfectly flawless Tam O’shanter earlier in the programme.
The final toast of the evening to the chairman, artistes and croupier was very ably and humorously delivered by Denis Mullane. It was just the right mixture of fact and anecdote, like a mini skirt short enough to be interesting while covering the essential bits.
After a rousing rendition of the Star o’ Rabbie Burns, the evening was finally brought to an end by Peter Nevans’ beautiful rendition of the original, if less known, version of Auld Lang Syne, which was followed by the company of trusty fieres joining hands and singing the more popular version.
With Friday night’s success but a bleary memory, the more bright eyed members of the club gathered in traditional fashion on Saturday morning to lay a wreath at the Burns Monument on Dumbarton Road.
Having returned so triumphantly from only the third break in its 136 year history,the club is looking forward to its 129th Supper on January 26, 2024.