The Isle of Wight Caledonian Society held their annual Burns Night Dinner & Dance at The New Holmwood Hotel in Cowes on Saturday (24th January), celebrating Scotland’s most famous poet, Robert Burns.
The guests, lead by President Dr. Nick Measor, were piped in to dinner by the Society’s Honorary Piper, Dr. Kieron Cooney. Chef de cuisine, Terry Howard, bore the haggis on a platter for the piping in of the haggis which was then addressed by Richard Wilkins.
Following a fabulous 4 course silver service meal with an appropriate Scottish flavour the evening continued with the immortal memory, delivered by President Dr. Nick Measor, the toast to the lassies by guest speaker Angus Robertson, and the reply from the lassies, by Lin Patey.
After the toasting was over, Aileen Napper lead the guests in Scottish Country Dancing, with great hilarity and good fun all round.
Auld Lang Syne piped by Dr. Kieron Cooney brought the evening to a climactic close as the “carriages” arrived.
A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Caledonian Society has said:
“The Society is very grateful to their Social Secretary, Jane Gondhalekar, for organising another successful Burns Night, to their loyal Honorary Piper, Dr Kieron Cooney for making the evening so special, and to the amazing staff at The New Holmwood Hotel for the smooth running of the evening.”
Anyone wishing to learn Scottish Country Dancing on the Isle of Wight doesn’t need to be Scottish or have a partner, just contact the IW Caledonian Society via their website https://sites.google.com/site/theiowcaledoniansociety/
