The first meeting of the New Year saw the return of an old favourite a Burns Night Supper. As in previous years the Supper was held at Restaurant Nineteen09 at Scarborough TEC on Filey Road. In honour of the Scottish Bard the dress code for the evening was Black Tie or suit and tie.
A respectable 28 members and guests attended the Supper where we were met at the door by students from the college who directed us to the bar area for a pre-dinner drink or two.
The evening opened with an address by Chairman Dom in “Trumpian” style using his best American accent followed by the Selkirk Grace from Brian Davidson in his best Scottish accent.
The peace was then broken by the skirl of the pipes and the Great Chieftain of the pudding race was paraded around the room on a silver platter carried by a somewhat embarrassed student proceeded by the piper.
The procession over the piper addressed the haggis in time honoured fashion with a faultless rendition of one of Burns most well known poems before cutting it open with his dirk to expose its entrails.
There followed an excellent if heavy meal starting with haggis, neeps and tatties followed by a beef casserole complete with herb dumplings and ending with a cranachan dessert which appeared to have consumed a bottle of whisky all on its own.
The meal was followed with a brief account of Burns life and works from Brian who appeared to be on commission from the Scottish Tourist Board the number of times he recommended visiting the country before ending with a toast to Burns with a further toast this time to the lasses proposed by Chairman Dom who thankfully did not inflict his Scottish accent on us.
There then followed the high point of the evening for some members a whisky tasting hosted by former 41 Club member and genuine Scot Ian Cocker who after starting with a very good Burns joke introduced us to 6 different whiskys starting with a Talisker from the Isle of Skye followed by an Old Poultney from Wick, a Bunnahabhain from Islay, a Jura from where else but Jura and finishing with a Glen Scotia from Campbelltown on the Mull of Kintyre. The only disappointing note was that not all the contents of the 6 bottles had been drunk by the time the evening ended.
Chairman Dom thanked Ian on behalf of some very replete and satisfied members for his informative introduction to the joys of whisky tasting.
The meeting closed with the usual toast to RTBI.
Burns Night Supper Reporter
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