Burns night

The annual celebratory tribute to the life, works and spirit of the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns (1759-1796).

Celebrated on, or about, the Bard’s birthday, January 25th, Burns Suppers range from stentoriously formal gatherings of esthetes and scholars to fun family evenings. Most Burns Suppers include the traditional haggis, nips and tatoos with music, poetry and other activities in the spirit of the Bard.

Here is a typical run through and description of what is involved in a Burns Supper:

Piping in the top table

At formal gatherings, it is traditional for the top table guests to be piped in. However, at a smaller and less formal gathering, you can play some Scottish music, traditional bagpipe music or your favourite contemporary Scottish band, and clap along to welcome your guests.

Welcome

The selected Chairman or Speaker acts as Master of Ceremonies for the evening and welcomes the guests – the host of an informal evening usually takes this role. The Chairman introduces the top table and any other speakers and entertainers before reciting the Selkirk Grace:

‘Some hae meat and canna eat, And some would eat that want it, But we hae meat, and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be thankit’.

Piping in the haggis

The haggis is the crowning glory of a Burns Supper and, suitably, is piped in to an upstanding audience. Traditionally the chef carries the haggis in on a silver platter behind the piper and is followed by the person who will address the haggis.

The address to the haggis

The appointed speaker gives a dramatic rendition of Burns’ Address to a Haggis with a knife at the ready. After apologising for ‘killing’ the haggis, they then plunge the knife into the haggis and slice it open during the line ‘An’ cut you up wi’ ready slight’’ meaning ‘and cut you up with skill’. The recital ends with the platter being raised above their head whilst saying the triumphant words ‘Gie her a Haggis!’ to rapturous applause.

Toast to the haggis

The speaker then invites the guests to toast the haggis and everyone, including the chef, raises their glasses and shouts ‘The Haggis’ before enjoying a dram. The haggis is then piped back out to be prepared for dinner.

The meal

Spicy haggis, meat or vegetarian, is traditionally served with buttery mashed neeps and tatties and sometimes a whisky cream sauce.

First entertainer

The Chairman introduces the first entertainer who then performs one of Burns’ songs or poems such as A Red, Red Rose or Tam O’ Shanter.

The immortal memory

The main speaker is introduced and gives an enthralling account of Burns’ life. His literary prowess, politics, nationalistic pride in Scotland, faults and humour should all be explored to give the audience an insight into Burns’ life and works in a witty, yet serious way. The speaker concludes with an invitation to join in a heart-felt toast: ‘To the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns’.

Second entertainer

More celebration of Burns with singing or a recital.

Toast to the lassies

A humorous speech written for the evening that gently ridicules the (few) shortcomings of women that aims to amuse both sides of the audience – ‘observations’ therefore should not be too cutting! Despite the initial mockery, the speech ends on a positive note with the speaker asking the men to raise their glasses in a toast ‘to the lassies’.

Third entertainer

More songs, recitals and music.

Reply to the toast to the lassies

The chance for a female speaker to retort with some good-natured jokes of her own, beginning with a sarcastic thanks on behalf of the women present for the previous speaker’s ‘kind’ words, before giving a lively response highlighting the foibles of the male race, using reference to Burns and the women in his life. Again, this speech finishes on a positive note.

Final entertainer

The last entertainer bravely faces a merry crowd for some final songs and readings.

Vote of thanks

A vote of thanks is made to everyone who has made the evening such a roaring success, from the chef and speakers to the guests.

Auld Sang Syne

A Burns Supper traditionally ends with the singing of Burns’ famous song about parting, Auld Lang Syne. Everyone joins hands in a large circle and sings the words together and at the line ‘And here’s a hand’, you cross each of your hands over to rejoin those standing on either side of you.

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Click here to see the complete report.

Ulster’s Forgotten Heros – the Ulster Defense Regiment

Ex-UDR man recalls gun battle with IRA gang

A FORMER UDR soldier who turned an IRA ambush into one of the regiment’s finest hours has shared his remarkable story for the first time.

Fermanagh man Eric Glass is the most highly decorated soldier in the proud history of the regiment.

Former council dog warden by day — Corporal Glass of 4 UDR by night, this affable family man looks an unlikely hero sitting in the living room of his house in Ulster’s picturesque Lakelands, but his fighting spirit is without question.

Having been shot in the shoulder during a failed attempt on his life in 1978, Eric could have been forgiven for going underground and beginning a safer new life elsewhere.

However, with the unwavering support of his exceptional family, not for one minute did he contemplate leaving his beloved Fermanagh or being intimidated out of his job with the council.

Defying countless terrorist threats, Eric continued with his daily routines at home and work until the IRA raised the stakes significantly on a winter morning in 1992.

In a rare interview, last week Eric told the News Letter how he faced his greatest challenge and still bears the scars — both physical and mental.

As Eric explained, he was taking his morning tea break when his secretary took a telephone call giving directions to the scene of an alleged dog attack.

“I asked her if the call was for me and she said it was so I spoke to him,” Eric said.

The voice belonged to an IRA gunman — one of a four-man gang staging a carefully planned ambush at a border farmhouse near Belleek.

“He didn’t sound nervous or anything. He just said his niece was down at the weekend and the wee dog had bit her on the face.

“Then he said ‘I don’t know what to do about it’ and kept asking me what time I would be down.”

The heavily armed gunmen had been in the house from the morning before, keeping the householder hostage.

“As I drove down the lane to the house I had my gun [a Walther pistol] under a coat on the front seat,” Eric recalled.

“The minute I pulled up one guy came to the driver’s door — he had a gun [an automatic rifle] with binder twine on it slung round his neck — and the other one had a revolver. They came running out shouting and swearing ‘get out of the van — IRA’.

“The one with the revolver ran up to the passenger door.

“I cocked the gun and fired three shots out through the passenger side,” Eric said. The body of Joe MacManus, 21, from Sligo was later recovered from the scene.

“I swung round quick and pushed the door into the other guy. He had the rifle round his neck on the string and was going to use his hands to get me out of the van but he ran off.”

Eric took cover behind the front wheel of the van and opened fire on two further gunmen armed with Kalashnikov-type rifles behind a low wall no more than 20 metres away.

When one moved position and appeared at the side of the house, Eric took careful aim and pulled the trigger only to find he was out of ammunition.

“The magazine was empty but I had another one in my coat which was in the van.”

Eric would have to place himself in direct line of fire, running back around the open van door to retrieve his spare magazine. “I pulled out the coat, got the full mag and whacked it in to the gun.”

When the terrorists realised what was happening they closed in for the kill as Eric explained: “They ran down firing on automatic and that’s when I got the whacked on the legs.” Eric’s left leg had shattered below the knee and he was losing a lot of blood.

“With the new magazine on I fired back and somebody roared ‘two, three and four run for it’ and they disappeared into cover.

“When I shouted at the man in the house to phone for help he said he couldn’t as the boys would come back and shoot him.”

Worried he could lose consciousness before help was summoned, Eric hauled himself up on a brush shaft and made it to the phone in the hallway of the farmhouse.

“After I made the phone call [to the police] I looked out the window and saw one of them coming back up again. He went up to the boy that was shot and took his pistol.

“This was all happening maybe five or even ten minutes after it all started.

“I had only two or three rounds left at this stage and I remember thinking: ‘If he comes in for me now I’ll just lie here and let him shoot away at me.’ The adrenaline had all left the body and I couldn’t have cared less. I could see all the blood pouring out of my boots.”

The crew of a military helicopter coming to Eric’s assistance spotted the three remaining gunmen who were still at the scene.

They fled towards the border but were picked up by Garda officers and arrested.

At their subsequent trial in Dublin, Eric spent almost four full days in the witness box under cross-examination.

All three were eventually convicted and jailed for their role in the shooting.

Corporal Glass was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal — second only to the Victoria Cross — for his actions in the face of the enemy.

He was the only soldier to receive such a high honour in the 22-year-history of the Regiment.

His bravery earned him the respect and admiration of everyone connected with the UDR but, although thankful to be alive, he paid a high price for his heroism on that fateful day.

“I spent nine months in hospital because the bones in my left leg were shattered. Then when I eventually got our of hospital I found I didn’t have a job to go back to with the council. That was hard to come to terms with after all those years working there,” Eric explained.

Still reeling from the loss of his day job, the former dog warden was then paid a visit by representatives of the UDR’s personnel department.

Eric said he was “gutted” at the suggestion he would be better off leaving the Regiment.

“It took a lot out of me that day because I didn’t for one minute think I would have to leave the UDR. They were very good about it, and sympathetic OK, but it wasn’t nice to hear.

“In the end they explained everything about pensions and things like that and eventually convinced me it would be for the best.”

Welcome relief from the thought of enforced unemployment came in the form of a private audience with the Queen.

As Eric views his family as the real heroes of the story, he was delighted to have his wife with him at Buckingham Palace in 1993 for the Distinguished Conduct Medal presentation.

“We were the only two there and the Queen just chatted to us like a normal person. She asked me were we still living in the same house and then she turned to my wife and asked her how she dealt with it all.”

Despite leaving the Regiment in 1993, Eric remained a prime terrorist target and subsequently moved house to minimise the risk.

When the remaining members of the IRA gang were released from prison under the Good Friday Agreement, the police again visited the Glass family home to advise them of the need to review their personal security.

Despite his iconic status in the Regiment’s history, Eric says with typical humility, “I was fighting for my life.”

“I just happened to be an ordinary person called on to do something extraordinary at the time, but I worked with a lot of very brave men and women.”

Watch “Pastor B.Halliday, D.Kennedy UUP, H.Reilly UKIP, …” on YouTube

Pastor B.Halliday, D.Kennedy UUP, H.Reilly UKIP, …: http://youtu.be/OCQDmXyyYq0