ALEXANDRIA BURNS CLUB
St Andrews Night Celebration 27th November 2015
Once again we gathered in the function suite of the Vale of Leven Bowling Club for the annual St Andrew's Night celebration. More than 80 members and guests gathered there for the ongauns. Robert Mills and the team from Venue Catering provided the usual excellent meal.
The Top Table with James Thumath, Willie Kelly, Ian Embelton
Chairman Bryan Weir, Paul Murdoch and Jim O'Hare
Club president, Bryan Weir welcomed the company and introduced the top table, all of whom would be performing on the evening. They were warmly welcomed by the company of over 90 members and guests. the attendance was very good considering that our evening clashed with a prizegiving evening involving some of the local bowlers who would normally have attended.
After the Selkirk Grace dinner was served by Robert Mills' catering team. Once again this was "a good tightener" much appreciated by the company.
Ian Embelton
After dinner and a short interval Ian Embelton delivered the Toast To Scotland. Ian is the Chief Executive of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association and his excellent toast touched on his experiences in the piping world along with other interesting facts about Scotland. This was Ian's first speech. It was very interesting, humourous and well received by the company.
James Thumath and Tom Brown
James Thumath was next up. An excellent singer and musician who puts a lot of preparation into his performances at our evenings, James was once again excellent. He was ably accompanied by club member Tom Brown on the Bodhran. I think most people would agree that the bodhran adds depth and atmosphere to James's performances.
Following James and Tom, Willie Kelly treated us to one of his unique and hilarious performances with music, song and comedy. It was clear from the audience reaction that Willie's material is much appreciated.
Closing the second part of the evening we had Jim O'Hare with his magical moothie and a few rousing tunes.
Willie Kelly
Jim O'Hare
After an Interval we had Paul Murdoch making his debut. Paul is a local musician and songwriter who entertained us with one of his own compositions before his excellent toast to "Oor Toon". Paul has a unique delivery and his highly entertaining toast was warmly received by the company. Hopefully we will see Paul again in the future.
Paul Murdoch
It has become almost a tradition for Bob Wyllie to do a reading at our St Andrew's nights. Bob always spends time searching out his readings and he usually comes up with something new and entertaining and he did so again this year.
Bob Wyllie
We then had James Thumath, Willie Kelly and Jim O'Hare performing their second slot before Jim McNiven led the company in singing Loch Lomond and the Lovely Valley. A very successful evening concluded with Auld Lang Syne.
A selection of images from the evening has been posted below. Click these to view larger versions in a new window.
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