Burns Night 2011 Held on Saturday 22nd January 2011 at the Alexander Suite

Now that's what I call a great night out. A hundred and forty eight Oddfellows and Friends attended the Burns Night at the Alexander Suite Swanley. The festivities started with The Pipes and Drum of the Sutherland Pipes and Drums who proceeded to pipe in the Haggis. This was followed by the Grace from Brother Graham Elliot the President of the Southern Region. A small bottle of Whisky was on the place mat for the Toasts.

The Food was then Served to the tables. For starter there was Haggis, Neeps (Swede) and Tatties (mashed potato). Main course, Meat Pie, Roast Potatoes, Carrot and Green Beans. This was followed by Scottish Highland Shortbread, Tea or Coffee and Mints.

We then moved onto the speeches announced by the Toastmaster Brother Peter Clarke Prov. C.S. Linda Drakley was asked to do the Loyal Toast to our Majesty the Queen, all were asked to rise, the Toast was The Queen and Oddfellowship The first speech was from Graham Elliot who thanked all for coming, numbers were slightly down this year, probably due to all the illness which we are experiencing at the moment. He was also pleased to see four Junior Members attending, nice to see as they are the future for Oddfellows, with this there was a small ripple of applause. There was a Response from the Lassies by Sister Valerie Ashcroft from the Mitcham District. There were a few presentations.

Speeches over it was now time for the dancing. The Staff of the Alexander Suite cleared table from the dance floor and the dancing began. The first couple up to dance was Tom and Marjorie Tennick which encourage many to get up. The first dance was the Gay Gordons which filled the floor, music from the Pipes and Drum. Following this Chris Jones started to play a nice mix of music for the rest of the evening. He too played music for the Gay Gordon plus a Barn Dance and a Veleta plus many waltzes, quicksteps and some Latin American. The raffle was drawn at 22:30 and raised £300 for EllenorLions Hospice.

At the end of the night Brother Graham Elliot personally thanked all who had attended for coming and wished them a safe journey, he hoped they would be back again next year for the Burns Night.