Happy Birthday to the ‘Number One Ladies’

 

It’s Happy Birthday to the Dumfries Ladies Burns Club Number One. I was delighted to be invited as their guest singer at their 80th birthday celebrations at the Cairndale Hotel  Dumfries on Friday12th March. After a welcome from President Mrs Shona Shaw and an excellent meal, secretary of the Ladies club Betty Haining read greetings from many clubs and individuals which just went to show the high esteem the Ladies and their club are held by Burnsians near and far. President of the Robert Burns Federation Mike Duguid proposed a toast in which he praised the remarkable work the Ladies club do not only locally but at federation level and their heavy involvement with the local and national schools competitions not forgetting their never ending support of charity. Mike asked the assembled gathering to raise their glass and wish the club congratulations for 80 years of dedication to the Burns movement and for many more years of existence.

I was then invited to sing, I chose ‘Ae Fond Kiss’ and ‘A Man's a Man’. I had earlier that week been in bed with a bronchial infection and asked the ladies if they had a curse on me? I had been asked to sing at their 70th celebrations ten years earlier but had to ‘call off’ at the last minute when I was admitted to hospital, then again two years ago I ‘sniffled’ my way through their St Andrew’s Night Dinner after having been laid low with a flu bug. The ladies assured me it was just a coincidence, and what a feeling to get the sympathy and offer of getting my chest rubbed from over 60 ladies!! I was accompanied for my songs by Elizabeth Wilson on keyboard; this was Elizabeth’s last appearance at the Ladies Club as she and her husband Joe are immigrating to Canada later in the year. Elizabeth was wished well by her fellow club members.

After the formal part of the evening it was then handed over to Lee McQueen and Sandy McClelland who entertained on accordion and drums respectively for dancing. Senior vice president Lesley Douglas proposed a vote of thanks before we joined together for Auld Lang Syne to bring a most enjoyable birthday party to a close and well done to The Dumfries Ladies Burns Club Number One for reaching this 80th milestone.

That was the second Burns engagement for me in March having chaired the penultimate meeting of the Howff Club executive on Monday 1st.

The month of March is racing on and with April being the ‘end of the season’ for the Howff my presidency is drawing to a close. A scribe for the club Newsletter has allowed me to reminisce of the great year it’s been, but with two or three events still to take place I will hope to report in a future blog before its ‘time up’.

 

 

JOHN M CASKIE

PRESIDENT

BURNS HOWFF CLUB

21 MARCH 2010