As President of the Gatehouse of Fleet I had the great pleasure of chairing my own Club’s 57th Annual Burns Supper in the Murray Arms Hotel, a hostelry with a direct link to the Poet through his stay there in July 1793.
And what a delightful surprise I had when past-President Bobby Carson presented me with one of his beautiful rams-head lamps on behalf of the Club in recognition of my being the first Club member to become the President of the Robert Burns World Federation.
The award-winning Scots poet Rab Wilson proposed a particularly fine Immortal Memory focussing on the influences which Robert Burns would have gained from other literary sources but also highlighting the impact of political, religious and social turmoil which feature in his poems and songs. His wife Margaret (pictured) delighted the company with beautiful unaccompanied singing of Burns' songs. One particularly enjoyable parts of the evening is the tradition of having the children from the Gatehouse of Fleet Primary School recite their winning entries in their competition.
Another tradition is to have an International Toast and this year we were delighted to welcome Simon Faed, a descendent of James Faed, one of the famous family of artists from Gatehouse of Fleet.
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