Page 34 - RADC 2020

EVENTS
Burns Night with the Royal Chelsea Pensioners
LCpl M Wilson
On Saturday 25th January 2020 I had the honour to be invited to the Royal Chelsea Pensioners to celebrate Burns Night, a traditional Scottish event in memory of Robert Burns.
I was invited by our Ex-RADC Hygienist WO1 Hugh Craig after discovering that Mr. Craig was born on the island of Dunoon which is located across the water from where I was brought up. After a discussion of our shared roots, I realised that I hadn’t actually been to a proper burns night in
a long long time, in fact, if ever! (I know,
I am the worst Scottish person ever...) Thoughtfully, Mr. Craig invited me along to celebrate with them at The Royal Chelsea Pensioners which I felt very privileged about as tickets were hard to come by and every table was pretty much full.
The night consisted of a welcoming by the bagpipes, those who know me will know how much I love them! Then followed a traditional burn’s supper of cock-a-leekie soup for starter, haggis, neeps, and tatties for main, and clootie pudding for dessert. Which for me, clootie pudding is what we would call dumplings at home. My mum used to buy it from the butchers, fry it, and chuck it in my breakfast; it was delicious! I had never had it as a dessert before; maybe this is why I have a sweet tooth! The food was really yummy; the haggis was piped
in by the bagpiper, being presented by Mr. Craig on a plate with a rear person waving bottles of whiskey in the air as a gesture
of how special the meat was. The haggis was then addressed in a traditional Scottish manner which only a few of us could understand and to be honest even parts of it I couldn’t!
The tables were laid out at an angular position so there was plenty of space for ceilidh dancing in the middle of the hall. On our table there were seven of us and everyone was really friendly; I had such an amazing evening.
When the meal was finished, it was time for some entertainment. We were serenaded by the lovely Alison, from Glasgow, and others with songs that included a Celtic song Wild Mountainside and a haggis song. After the singing, it was time for some ceilidh dancing.
Ceilidh dancing is something that I learned in school, it was compulsory back when I was a child, although I’m not too sure if it still is now. I will never forget the days of having to dance with boys and all the girls feeling embarrassed as if they had some sort of disease. Little did I know that this style of dancing would actually come in pretty useful later on in life.
I knew I had a pair of country dancing shoes back home in Scotland sat in the wardrobe at my mother’s house. I wasn’t even sure if they still fit, but I picked them
up when I went home for Christmas so I could make use out of them for burns night. I put on my shoes and got ready to dance, I was right, they were too small! Some of the dances organised included the Gay Gordons and the Dashing White Sergeant, which
I had done as a child, so as soon as we started dancing the memories of how to do it just came flooding back (like riding a bike as they say). Doing the dancing reminded me of a trip to Kenya back in 2014 when
I and Maj Heath were teaching the African children how to do a ceilidh and they were teaching us how to do their dancing! Which confirmed to me again how useful this dancing style has been later on in life.
I didn’t actually have any proper tartan
to wear so I had to borrow some from a friend who luckily was able to sort me out
as she had something in her wardrobe. The funny thing about it though, she wasn’t even Scottish! Even more fortunate, the dress I wore matched the ribbon which was tied around the menu so I decided to keep it and put in in my hair for added effect. I went for the Highland bun just to add to the theme of the night.
It was a great night overall, full of food, drinks, entertainment, and dancing. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to attend a burns night again next year! I can’t thank Mr. Craig enough for inviting me.
Sgt S Clark and Mr H Craig
Ms C Driver and LCpl M Wilson
Mr H Craig
32 RADC BULLETIN 2020