Bergen Scottish Society

Burns Supper

Saturday 21st January, 2006 – Åsane Idretts Klubb

Following the haggis-drama of 2005, no chances were taken with delivery of the main dish in 2006. Award winning Scottish haggis breeder Joe Findlay personally escorted a consignment of the wee beasties to Bergen. His journey by road from Portobello to Aberdeen and onward by air to Bergen was reassuringly uneventful.

The evening opened in the time-honoured fashion with a chieftain haggis being carried on a silver platter to the top table by Joe Findlay, escorted by Bergen Scottish piper Chris Jones playing Burns’ A Man's A Man For A' That. Society member Jimmy Fulton performed the Address to the Haggis, cutting the great chieftain o' the pudding-race up wi' ready sleight and trenching its gushing entrails bright. After the guests had filled and then emptied their groaning trenchers, they were entertained with the Immortal Memory to Robert Burns, a reading of A Man's A Man For A' That, the traditional toast to the lassies and reply from the lassies and a talk on the origins and development of the haggis.

The formal part of the evening closed with Grendakoret singing three Burns songs; Ae Fond Kiss, My Heart’s in the Highlands and Cald Blows the Wind. The floor was then cleared for Scottish Country dancing, and the evening was brought to a close a couple of hours later with everyone coming together to sing Auld Lang Syne. The 2006 Burns Supper was a great success, with over 80 people attending, and it has set a high standard for 2007!