As I have a chance to draw breath during a very busy season of Burns celebrations I will take the opportunity to bl0g on one of the main functions I have been to this year;- The Homecoming Burns Supper, held in Alloway on Saturday 24th running on into the anniversary of Burns birth in the 25th January.
This spectacular event was held in Alloway at the Brig O' Doon Hotel, hosted by our First Minister Alex Salmond, with everything done in a grand style and to the highest degree. This was the formal launch of the homecoming, but it was very much focused on celebrating Robert Burns, albeit in a fresh 21st century style removed from what has become "traditional" in Burns Suppers. Normal formalities were set aside, and interspersing the courses of a superb dinner, , we were entertained to a marvellous tableau of Burns life and works along with wonderful songs and music from some of Scotland's finest talents. Burns life was encapsulated in the script from John Murtagh, who also directed and played a variety of roles, supporting a great portrayal of Burns by Iain Robertson, with further quality support from Ryan Fletcher, a beautiful bevy of lasses who took roles from the Mauchline belles to other loves of Burns life, with Siobhan Redmond playing Maria Riddell. This all punctuated with wonderful songs, favourites and a few lesser known, from some of Scotland's best young musicians and singers, Karen Matheson, Sandi Thom, Karine Polwart, Rachel Sermani, Roddy Hart, James Grant, with Peter Clarke on fiddle.
The audience comprised a collection of the well known in Scottish cultural life, with a number of us from the Federation and local Burns Clubs mixed in, all thoroughly enjoying this spectacular, from the aperitif whisky cocktails, through the excellent dinner, all the entertainment, with Alex Salmond in his element delivering a couple of short speeches punctuating the evening with his tributes to Burns and the ambitions for the rest of the Homecoming celebrations.
We paused briefly mid-evening to venture outside and view the Brig, with lights portraying Tam pursued to the keystane by Nannie, a fire portrait of the Bard, and spectacular fireworks, all also enjoyed by a huge crowd attracted to Alloway to see these spectacles.
There are a number of video clips of this fantastic dinner on the Homecoming website, http://homecomingscotland2009.com/news/burns_supper_highlights.html
I never tire of looking at them, the memories of this night will be with me long after 2009.
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