Mauchline
Burns Club held their annual Burns Supper
in the Fairburn Hotel, Mauchline on Friday
25th January. Club President, John Sutherland
officiated. The Immortal Memory was proposed
by Lord Weir - a direct descendent of Robert
Burns - and the Toast to The Lasses by Vice
President Billy Sharpe. Club Secretary, Andrew
Cooper addressed the haggis in his own fashion
which is known throughout the civilised World,
having done it on the historic Bleaching Green
at Mauchline Holy Fair and in Belgium at Flanders,
on the recent unveiling of the Scottish memorial
there. Members, Tom Wilkinson and Ian Denham
gave readings and members Bob Baillie and
Tommy Scott provided the musical entertainment.
Past President, Andy Bell, appealed for funds
towards the four seats we sent out to be placed
around the Flanders Monument and his appeal
raised the fantastic sum of £350. Before
we rounded off the evening with 'Auld Lang
Syne', Honorary President Ian Lyell gave an
excellent vote of thanks to everyone contributing.
Photo Left to right:-
Front Row:- Ian Lyell, Lord Weir, John Sutherland,
Billy Sharpe.
Back Row:-Tom Wilkinson, Ian Denham, Tommy
Scott, Andrew Cooper, Bob baillie, Andy Bell
and our piper.
Wreathlaying
at The National Burns Memorial, Mauchline
on Sunday
27th January 2008
Left to right:- Margaret Morrell, Ayr Burns
Club, Billy Sharpe, Vice President, Mauchline
Burns Club, Jim Elder, President, Ayrshire
Burns Masonic Association, Councillor Eric
Jackson, John Sutherland, President, Mauchline
Burns Club, Councillor Jim Roberts, Ian Anderson,
RWM of Lodge St David, Mauchline.
Benches to Flanders
You will remember that Mauchline Burns
Club travelledto Flanders to take part in
the official unveiling of the Scottish War
memorial at Zonnebeke. (See previous article)
The
party which were there came back with such
enthusiasm at their reception and the goodwill
towards them shown there, that they decided
that Mauchline Burns Club should do something
in return. Having consulted the main
Belgian organiser of the memorial ,
Erwin Ureel, on what was required, we decided
to send four seats for people to rest
on while visiting the memorial. Erwin
was adamant that these should be 'Made in
Scotland' and we discovered that Ailsa
Hospital workshops made wooden benches
to a very high standard. After visiting
and being impressed bvy the quality, four
were ordered and were on their way to Flanders
just before Christmas. We were very lucky
that our friend, Field Cook and WW1
Field Kitchen owner, Peter Skelly, was going
over with a van to bring back his kitchen
and he readily agreed to take the benches
over with him and deliver them to Erwin.
gifts
131 Piece Boxware Collection to Mauchline
Burns Club for Exhibition.
Benefactor
Alex Mitchell Decd.
The
donated collection being examined by Boxware
expert Alex Wilson and Burns Club Committee
Member, John Murphy.
After
the death of their father Alex at 95, his
daughter Sandra and the rest of the family
brought his Mauchline Boxware Collection home
to Mauchline and presented it to the safekeeping
of Mauchline Burns Club for exhibition in
the Burns House Museum and other museums in
the area.
The
Burns Club were understandably delighted and
our Member and Mauchlineware expert Alex Wilson,
enthusiastically examined the collection which
he valued at several thousand pounds. The
Burns Club have a Boxware Fund to refurbish
the Boxware which was already in the Museum
and to purchase missing important pieces.
This has being going for several years already
and the decision has been taken to use this
fund to clean - and refurbish as necessary
to bring up to museum condition - all the
pieces donated by the family of Alex Mitchell.
Our specialist conservator, Laurance Black
of Edinburgh now has the collection and is
working on it for us.
The
Alex Mitchell story told by his daughter Sandra
Moody:-
Our
father Alex Mitchell who has died in Dumfries
aged 95 after a short illness was
born in New Cumnock, Ayrshire the second of
five children. The family was not
well off, particularly after his father was
badly injured in a mining accident and
unable to work. However, his childhood was
happy and education was highly valued
by his parents. As a school boy and young
man he excelled at sports, winning many medals
for running and football.
While
still at school he met our mother, Jean. She
won medals for academic
achievements.
Dad used to say that she won medals for brains
and he won
medals
for brawn. They
both went to Glasgow University where Dad
graduated with an Honours Degree
in English in 1933, followed by teacher training,
and returned to New Cumnock
to teach.
Our
parents were married in 1939.
At
the outbreak of the Second World War dad was
conscripted and became an anti-aircraft gunner.
However, he soon became part of the War Office
Selection Board, devising tests to select
officers and there is still a Mitchell Vocabulary
test.
After
the war his involvement with officer selection
led to a continued interest in psychometric
testing and he moved to London to the Tavistock
Institute for Human
Relations where he worked with many of his
ex-army colleagues. He also became a member
of the British Psychological Society.
Our
father moved to-work at Lintas Consumer Study
Unit (part of Unilever] and became
head of Lintas research unit in 1955. He did
early research on the impact of television
advertising, publishing extensively on "brand
image" and effective advertising. When
Research Bureau Ltd was set up in 1962 he
became a director and later spent a year in
India with Hindustan Lever. He was chair of
the Market Research Society from 1962-63 and
travelled extensively. Our house also played
host to colleagues from all over the world
and our parent's hospitality and New Year
parties were legendary.
When
he retired in 1971, he and my mother decided
to move back to Scotland to Dumfries
where they had relatives. There they found
a whole range of new friends, became involved
in charity work, and were founder members
of Solway Sound
the local talking newspaper. He also rekindled
an interest in Robert Burns
and was a mine of information about old Ayrshire
words.
Our
mother Jean died in 1992 after over 50 years
of happy marriage.
Dad
managed on his own with the help, first of
all of Joy, and then Kate and his neighbours.
When his eyesight deteriorated and his mobility
became restricted Pete
and Catherine Holmes, his neighbours, offered
him a room in their house to live
in. This, with the help of Kate and other
carers, enabled him to maintain his independence,
something he valued highly.
He
remained mentally alert, interested in politics
and current affairs, completing the
Guardian crossword every day. His recipe for
longevity was "porridge in youth and
red wine in old age".
Some
people are old at twenty and some are young
at ninety. Dad was one of the latter.
The most frequent comment about him was what
an interesting man he was
to talk to, because he maintained his interest
in people and in the world around
him.
He
is survived by his two daughters, Sandra and
Jenny, his son in law Terry and his grandson
Kevin.
Seven
members of Mauchline Burns Club and their
families travelled by invitation to
Zonnebeke to take part in the
ceremony of the unveiling of the Monument
to the Scots troops who died during the Great
War. The monument is a Celtic Cross of Scottish
Granite on a plinth of original bunker stones
and - at 20 feet tall - it dominates the landscape.The
Cross was made by an Aberdeenshire Firm and
transported out to Flanders. It was paid for
by Regimental, Scottish Executive, British
Legion and Scottish City donations. Here is
our story of a fantastic pilgrimage to witness
the unveiling:-
YPRES
Over
the Commemorative weekend, the group stayed
just off the historic square of YPRES and
near the Menin gate. Each evening at 8pm,
the Last Post is sounded but Friday August
24th was a specially spectacular and moving
ceremony. Several of the bands taking part
in the event were to appear at the unveiling
of the Monument and at the Tattoo. These included
the Island of Cumbrae Pipe Band and the Scota
Guards. A marvellous start to a marvellous
weekend!
After
a free morning exploring YPRES, the group
moved to Zonnebeke and the monument unveiling
itself.
THE
MEMORIAL
The
ceremony, with the Club as Official Guests,
was moving and varied. It opened
with the mass bands and included contributions
by folk singer Alan Brydon, pupils of Belmont
Academy, Ayr, the playing of a new pipe tune
and the presentation to Zonnebeke of a new
tartan - mainly brown for the land and red
for the blood shed on it.
Ian Lyell,
Honorary President of our Club, read 'A Man's
a Man for a' That', a most appropriate piece
for the occasion.
The
Cross, draped in several Saltires, was unveiled
by Belgian dignitaries and, from the Scottish
Executive, Linda Fabiani, Minister for Europe,
External Affairs and Culture.At the end of
the official proceedings, four Club Members
walked out to lay a poppy wreath at the base
of the new memorial. Club Member, Bob Baillie,
was the interviewed by a Belgian TV station
about his impression of the day's events.
THE
TATTOO
The
scene shifted for the evening to the grounds
of Chateau Zonnebeke. before it, haggis provided
by the Club - and neeps and tatties - were
offered to the crowd. An open-air Address
to the Haggis was quickly mounted with no
shortage of pipers. Our President, John Sutherland,
carried it througn the crowd to our Secretary,
Andrew Cooper, who addressed it with gusto.
Performing
at the Tattoo were seven Bands, including
the Scots Guards, The Royal Band of the Belgian
Air Force and the Isle of Cumbrae Pipe Band.
With 2000 spectators - all with Scottish flags,
the two-hour programme was a spectacular end
to the day.
DAWN
WALK
After
a two-hour sleep, the group was on the go
again for a Dawn Walk through the terrain
crossed by the Scottish Troops. Our morning's
campaign was explained to us by an officer
as happened in 1917. As dawn broke, a most
moving service was held at the new Memorial.
The flames from four log braziers lit our
Folk Singer, piper and Church Minister.
The
next stop was equally memorable as all 200
of us sat in a farmyard watching a one-act
play. 'The Prayer', about an incident in the
trenches, was written by Willie St Clair from
Kirkintilloch, a stretcher-bearer on the Western
Front.
As
we marched on - led by a piper - we were greeted
by three World War 1 nurses distributing tots
of rum. At our destination, the Zonnebeke
Castle, a field kitchen offered a cooked breakfast
of sliced sausage, black pudding and tattie
scones.
TYNE
COT CEMETERY
Having
decided to opt out of a Highland Games afternoon,
the group headed for Passchaendale and Tyne
Cot Cemetery. Around 12,000 dead are buried
there plus 35,000 names of those who died
after August 16, 1917.
As
many visitors do, a successful search was
made for the grave of a soldier with Mauchline
connections.
The
instigator - and Belgian co-ordinator - of
the weekend was Erwin Ureel, an adjutant chef
in the Belgian Army and WWI tour guide. Scotland
owes him a huge debt for his efforts.
The
title of the weekend was 'Will ye come to
Flanders? All 14 of the Group were very glad
they had said yes.
(Words
by Ian Lyell)
Have you tasted haggis, neeps
and tatties?
Yes, we come from
Scotland but from Mauchline and it is
free.
Some Hae'
Meat and canna' eat! (note
the name on the whisky bottle)
Ian Lyell assures everyone that 'A
man's a man for a' that'
Jean
Armour Birthday Party
Friday
23rd February saw Mauchline Burns Club and
friends celebrating our own Jean Armour's
Birthday with a Birthday Party in the Fairburn
Hotel. Entertainment was provided by Ian Lyell's
presentation of 'Burns' Lasses' which was
performed at last year's Holy Fair. The Company
really enjoyed seeing this as most of us were
far too busy at the Holy Fair to see any of
the attractions.
Performers in the presentation
included Angus Middleton, who is the President
of the Robert Burns World Federation and also
president of the Ayrshire Association of Burns
Clubs - and also two past presidents.
Our own Castle Folk, comprising members Bob
Baillie and Tommy Scott plus flautist extraordinaire
Willie Young provided the music for the presentation
and Bob and Tommy provided their own brand
of singing and music in the second half.
The
Birthday cake was cut by Elizabeth Sutherland,
wife of our President John and during the
evening Defence Minister, Des Browne
dropped in to see what was going on.
Lesley
Deschner, Fergie Mccarney and Des Browne
with the cake.
Can you see the
spelling mistake on the cake?
For
the event, Secretary, Andrew
Cooper, wrote an Address to the Birthday
Cake:-
