BURNS ANNIVERSARY

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 104, 26 January 1935, Page 5

BURNS ANNIVERSARY

St. Andrew Club Celebration The first of the many Wellington functions to celebrate the birth of Scotland’s immortal poet, Robert Burns, on January 25, 1759, took place when a special Burns night was held by the St. Andrew Burns Club. After being played in according to time-honoured custom, the haggis was addressed by Mr. J. B. Thomson, who has given Burns’s famous address in many countries during the past 25 years. Despite the reviling which the national dish undergoes from the “Auld Enemy,” those present, whether Scotsmen or otherwise, enjoyed partaking of it, and everyone confirmed the opinion of it so well expressed. by the poet. ~ The toast of “The immortal Memory was proposed by the president, Mr. Robert Hogg. Mr. Hogg mentioned that it had often been stated that Scotsmen were so conceited that they alone could talk of Burns in high esteem. To refute this, he gave extracts from the writings of many French, Belgian, German, Danish, Rumanian, Italian, Hungarian, and American authors and poets, showing the esteem fir which the “Poets’ Poet” was held in those countries. The club’s application for affiliation with the Burns Federation, Kilmarnock, Scotland, was recently granted, and during the course of the programme, on Monday evening, the charter received from the federation was unveiled by the president. Eurasian songs were sung by Mesdames Torrance, Mackay, McDonald, and A. Hogg, and Mr. Savage;, bagpipe items were given by Pipe-Major MacCallum; violin solos by Jlr. J. L. Steel; and elocutionary items by Mr. Thomson. The accompanists were Miss F. C. Mackenzie and Mrs. McGowan. The meeting closed with the singing of the Scots’ National Anthem and “Auld Lang Syne.”