St Andrews Day

"Wher'er we live, what'er our lot

Still will I plead and pray

That Scot rejoice wi' brither Scot

Upon St Andrew's Day"

Today I was in St Giles Cathedral for The Festival Of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Patron of Scotland.

The Knights of the Order of the Thistle have it in their Charter to worship in St Giles on St Andrews Day, and for the past 60 years or so have invited to their worship representatives of the armed forces and police, the universities, various professional bodies, Judges and advocates etc, The Lord Provost and City of Edinburgh Council, The Royal Academy, The Grand Lodge of Scotland, and several cultural bodies, including the Robert Burns World Federation. Today I was privileged to lead our representatives in procession into St Giles.

This is truly a grand occasion, we meet in the magnificent Signet Library where maces are polished, robes are donned, and chains of office adorned, (the Federation chain is among the grandest and I was immensely proud to bear it today) as we are called into order for the short procession across the square and into the cathedral. The Provost and Councillors come directly from the city chambers, escorted by the very smart High Constables of Edinburgh bearing their ceremonial silver batons, and the peers of the realm all file in after we more ordinary mortals are escorted to our pews. In this wonderful building, as the Choir begin the Order of the Thistle come into the sanctuary. We then join in a service or worship led by The Very Rev Gilleasbuig Macmillan, Minister of St Giles and Dean of the Thistle, aided by the wonderful singing of the choir.

After our devotions, we retire again to the Signet Library, before taking our several ways with satisfaction that we have taken part in some rich pageantry honouring our Patron Saint.

We are honoured to get this invitation annually, and I have had the pleasure of attending a few of these services. This year we had a number of representatives from Edinburgh, and from as far afield as Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Dumfries. I would encourage all Members of the Federation to take up a future invitation to take part in this wonderful occasion.

Matt Gilbert, sad news

On Sunday I got the message that Matt Gilbert has passed away. I have known Matt for over 20 years, from the earliest day he came to the Clackmannan Stirling and West Perthsire Association of Burns Clubs as a representative of his Club, Dundas Burns Society, Grangemouth. Matt was a staunch Burnsian, very well read in Burns lore, and would quote facts of the Bards life, or works if the discussions came round. It was little surprise that Matt graduated to become President of the Association for a number of years. He did sterling work for his own Club and was always ready to assist those around him in their efforts, and particularly applied himself to furthering work in several schools around Falkirk and Grangemouth. He served the wider Burns movement, as a delegate to the Federation Executive for many years, sitting on the Heritage Committee. He held strong principles, I never knew him to waiver from these, one knew where Matt stood on an issue, always in the best interests of all Burnsians. Even after all his many years of service to the Executive, there will be those who did not know him very well. for he was a quiet self effacing character who certainly shunned the limelight, preferring to work effectively from the shadows, but who would appear with strength to offer his opinion when key issues were debated. These few thoughts are only the briefest of tribute that I pay for now, now doubt many will write fuller obituary in the next while. Matt will be sadly missed at the Federation, mourned by the area Association, and always fondly remembered by Dundas and other Clubs and the community of Grangemouth. Our sincerest condolences to his family at this time of great loss.

It has been a bleak time for the Burns movement as we have lost several great supporters this past while. Betty MacMillan, our generous supporter and patron from London sadly passed away in September. David Smith, one of Irvine's best known personalities, sadly no more. And recently Dumfries and all the Burns world mourns Donnie McCuaig. Sad times for us all.

A visit to Paisley.

One of the great pleasures in being President is that one gets invited to many special places, and recently I was in the Hallowed surroundings of Robert Tannahill's cottage. For those of you who do not know, Robert Tannahill was a weaver in Paisley, 1774 - 1810, who was noted for writing poems and songs in Scots dialect. Tannahill also has the distinction that he was one of the founders and the first Secretary of Paisley Burns Club from their inception in 1805 until his tragic death (by suicide) in 1810. The cottage where Tannahill lived and worked came into the possession of Paisley Burns Club many decades ago and closely resembled the premises he would have known until a few years back when a devastating fire reduced it to a shell. Paisley Burns Club are one of the first, if not the very first Burns Club, to be formally constituted, and their tradition ad history gives them a strength that few can surpass. In the face of this traumatic damage to their premises they set about retrieving the situation and have done a sterling job in breathing new life into the site, and now in place of the weaving room and caretakers accommodation they have a marvellous meeting room with another fine ante room and other facilities. The fire cost the Club many of their heirlooms but several survive having been in safekeeping elsewhere and are now displayed in the premises. As you would expect of a Club of this vintage and origins there are some outstanding pieces in this collection. The Club have also worked to restore their Library and have a range of books that would be the envy of many.

I joined the Club for one of their regular monthly meetings. A dram to toast the Memory of Robert Burns starts the evening, and usual Club business is conducted. Their habit is then to have a paper on a Burns topic, and I enjoyed a brief resume of the magic of Burns Letters, then the second paper (generally on some other Scottish literary topic) was given on the life of Samuel Smiles, a great author and reformer, native of Haddington as was the speaker. These were both well delivered and fascinating papers, If these are typical of the standard of proposal normally given then it is no wonder Paisley Burns Club continues in strength. To conclude the entertainment a wonderful slide show, with hilarious captions, of the Clubs summer bus trip had everyone laughing. John Haining who visited with me gave a few anecdotes of his time as President and I concluded the evening with a few remarks.

We were both presented with a small memento of our visit, a copy of the Club Chronicle which they publish annually as a record of the year. It will bring back many pleasant memories.

Should the opportunity arise to visit Tannahill's cottage, take the chance to view this wonderful place in Scotland's heritage.