We always enjoy celebrating Burns Night full of amusing speeches, poems and songs in honour of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns.  We also look forward to the Supper and the Haggis.

This year we attended the traditional Burns Night Supper at the Auld Alliance Scottish pub in Paris on the 25th January.

Julia offered the guests a welcoming glass of whisky.

Supper

We took our places at the table.

Ann, Andy and Motty get ready to join in the evening's festivities.

After the Selkirk Grace, the haggis was piped in to the room and Steve read the Address to a Haggis.

The menu began with salmon in a whisky sauce.

This was followed by the famous Haggis neeps and tatties

with a selection of Scottish cheese to finish.

Speeches

This year John delivered the Immortal Memory address.

He concluded the speech by inviting the guests to raise their glasses and offered a toast to the immortal memory of the Bard of Ayr.

Davy then gave a light hearted Toast to the Lassies,

which Christine, Anne and I took in good spirit!

Then it was my turn to recite a poem.

Burns's famous poem, Tam o' Shanter tells the tale of Tam, who was on his drunken way home to his wife, Kate.  It had been market day and he'd been in the pub and as he passed the church at Alloway, he came across the Devil dancing with some witches.  

I decided to recite a poem about Tam o' Shanter's wife, Kate and what she thinks of all Tam's shenanigans!

And where do you suppose was Kate when market days were wearing late,
While Tam frequented wretched dives and fooled around with landlord's wives? 
And rode poor Meg through mud and ditches and had an eye for handsome witches,
Played peeping Tam at Alloway and yelled and gave himself away,
And fled from there amid the din and Meg just about saved his skin.
Kate slaved away the lifelong day they had so many bills to pay.
The twins just had to have new shoes and Tam he spent so much on booze.
She bathed and clothed and fed the twins, she baked the bread, she knits and spins.
She does the wash, she mends the clothes, and what all else God only knows!
She keeps the house all neat and trim and makes the lunch for ploughman Jim.
She herds the sheep and cattle too, feeds hens, milks cows,
and when she's through makes cheese and butter
and gathers eggs and puts the homebrew in the kegs, 
For Tam to sell on market day and drink the proceeds half away. 
At harvest time from early morn her sickle reaps the oats and corn. 
And many a bonny summer day she and ploughman Jim - make hay!

When Tam got home that night at 4 and Meg found the stable door,
Tam stumbled senseless to the floor to sleep it off 8 hours or more.
Around noon the following day the livestock had a lot to say.
The chickens, donkeys, geese, hens and cows said, “We want food and we want it NOW! “
Tam struggled slowly to his feet. He wasn’t clean and he wasn’t neat.
He got up from the stable floor And made his way to the farmhouse door.
Tam stood dumbfounded - what the hell! For Kate was gone - the twins as well.
But Kate had left a note for him. "I've sailed to Montreal with Jim,
And we expect to settle soon out on a farm near Saskatoon!"
Forgive me Tam and don't be sore, I couldn’t take it any more.
And do not worry about the twins, I might as well confess - they're Jims!!

We all had an enjoyable evening,

and the party continued with plenty of music, singing and dancing.

See the photos from 2004 and 2006.