Rabbie Burns Night by a marauding Sassenach

On a dreich and cold night, some 28 (soon to be) tortured souls of Scarborough 41 Club (including 3 Scarborough Tablers) gathered in the main hall of Scarborough TEC to celebrate the birth of some Scot known as the Ploughman Poet over 260 years ago. You may ask why? I would suggest that that is irrelevant, as long as we all have an excuse to have a jolly good night out, and what a good night it was!

Although most attendees appear to have noted the request for Black Tie, there were some who had obviously gone to the far reaches of their closet and found that their formal attire had mysteriously shrunk since they last wore it 10 years ago!

The night started with John White reciting the Selkirk Grace (which he had thoughtfully translated- I think), followed by the wail of a lone piper from the direction of the toilet block. A few seconds later the pipes started up and the Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin’ Race was led in around the tables. The Piper then ‘Addressed the Haggis’, before stabbing it in a heathen frenzy. The use of words such as Ragout and Fricassee in the address does raise a query whether Rabbie Burns was really French!

The meal was very good, comprising of Haggis Gateau, with asparagus wrapped in Parma ham, followed by Scottish Beef Stew with Dumplings, Edinburgh Cheesecake (made with oats), cheeseboard and coffee. An excellent testament to the students and staff at the TEC.

Tots of Tamnavulen (a single malt Speyside for the aficionados) were duly consumed and, after a callout and thanks to the students and staff, there being no significant business, the meeting dissipated around 10.15, with members disappearing into the fog , possibly never to be seen again?

Thanks to Dominic and John for their hard work in organising the event, it was almost like life had returned to some sense of normality.

Report and photographs by Simon Ward.

Editor’s note: In the finest tradition of Table/41 Club we have a second meeting report due to a cock-up on the communications front. Still, better two reports than none. And a website innovation: meeting reports now in stereo!

There were 25 Members and 2 guests including a prospective new Member present at the Meeting in the Green Room on Bar Street on Thursday 18 November to welcome our Area Representative Wynn Parry only for Chairman David to announce that once again Wynn had been unable to make the meeting; this time due to having had a recent positive test for Covid 19.

According to the Chairman Wynn is hoping to make our December meeting. Perhaps third time
lucky!

Several members arrived at the restaurant late having been attracted by Secretary Mike’s offer to meet him in The Lord Rosebery where he would buy Members a drink. What they failed to appreciate was that this meant only the one drink between them all!

Copious amounts of red wine were again provided as part of the price of the meal by Entertainments Officer Dominic although Wilko decided that he preferred the Malbec to the other wine on offer and persuaded a waitress to swap the unwanted bottle of red on his table for another bottle of Malbec from another table.

Disappointingly there were again several non-apologies but this meant more wine for those who did attend.

A simple but well-cooked meal of steak pie and chips followed by sticky toffee pudding was served by amongst others a waitress with a pencil sticking out of the top of her head sporting a picture of Santa.

Your reporter personally enjoyed the steak pie but is still waiting for a report from aficionados of such meals on its comparison with the benchmark of The Bryerstones steak pie.

As already mentioned one of the 2 guests was a prospective new member Colin Bird who was inducted into the Club by our Chairman to a very nice jazz accompaniment from the restaurant sound system. In a brief address to Members Colin disclosed that he was a retired dairy farmer who now spent his time playing chess, shooting game and dealing in property. It was unclear if this was all at the same time.

Under pressure from one of his proposers Colin told a joke about buying 8 legs of venison for £50 which he thought was “too dear” which in retrospect was probably better left untold.

Our other guest was Neil Warburton a guest of our Entertainments Officer who was originally introduced by our Chairman as Dave Warburton.

The Meeting ended with another request from our Secretary for volunteers to help Round Table with its Santa sleigh newly rebuilt for this year and due to have its first outing to collect Santa from the Harbour on Saturday 20 November. The Secretary will email Members with the relevant dates and times.

Report kindly submitted by Ian Brabbs

The venue was The Green Room in Bar Street. The event was attended by a goodly number of members – (I say ‘goodly number’ because I forgot to actually count them) – plus Neil (Warburton), guest of Dom.

Grace was delivered to a word-perfect standard by David H making the traditional barracking disappointingly difficult.

We were then served an excellent meal of steak pie and chips followed by sticky toffee pudding with – wait for it – both custard AND ice cream. No difficult decision making whilst Dom is our Catering Officer!

We had a prospective member in the shape of ex-dairy farmer Colin Bird, who was wedged in his seat next to Chairman Dave A – presumably just in case he had any last minute thoughts of escape. Not that he tried very hard – he actually seemed quite keen to join. He stepped forward, proposed by fellow farmer Ian Burnett, and seconded by Mike Shingler. Dave recited the required words despite some competing background music, and Colin was duly inducted into the club and given the floor. He likened the experience to ‘getting married again’ – before thanking everyone for making him welcome and giving a short speech. This started with a potted history of his farming days and ended with an invitation to buy pheasants off him. Obviously not one to waste an opportunity … this boy certainly shows initiative! He finished with the observation that he wouldn’t buy 8 legs of venison though as it was two deer…

When people had finished eating, Chairman Dave gave a well-deserved vote of thanks to Dom and the staff of the Green Room, before calling for reports from the various committee members: 

Dom – indicated that he was planning a ‘teatime event’ at the Crescent in December, which would be open to both members and their partners. There would also be a Burns Night meeting on Tuesday 25 January at the Scarborough TEC restaurant on Filey Road. This would be a joint meeting with Round Table.

Ben K – As an honorary member of RT88, Ben reported on plans for this year’s Santa’s Sleigh collection. Having collapsed from old age – the sleigh not Santa – it has been completely rebuilt by Ben and his staff, using a caravan base. Colin Bird was asked to store it on his land and agreed. (Didn’t see the strings attached when you accepted that badge did you Colin??). Volunteers for elves to collect money are needed. Mike S said that he would be circulating a timetable – starting from Monday 29 November – so that 41 Club members could indicate which nights they would be available to help. 

(All credit to Ben who has organised the RT Santa Sleigh for many years and has raised many thousands of pounds for charity, so deserves as much support as people are able to give please).

Chairman Dave then ended the meeting by asking people to be upstanding for RTBI. 

All in all a really good night.

Meeting report and photo by Simon Lockley.