Tendring Twinning Association celebrated Burns Night in our own inimitable style; not only did we celebrate the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns, but we also took the opportunity to greet all three of our twin towns in order to wish them a happy new year in 2017.

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Our evening began with the procession of the piper, Esther Killington, the haggis , carried by Robyn Phillips and the Master of Ceremonies James Cole, who addressed the haggis in the customary manner before slicing it and proposing a toast.

After a copious meal of haggis, mashed potatoes and mashed swede followed by a traditional trifle we made a number of speeches and toasts.

We toasted our Queen, Elizabeth II.

 

Then a speech and toast was made to the Laddies by Paul Sharpe  which was responded to by Sue Sharpe on behalf of the Lassies. We then toasted our twin towns – in alphabetic order.

Annika Fischer proposed a toast to our friends in Biberach an der Riss – we were very grateful to welcome Annika who was able to make the greeting in German.

Next Donna Pajdowska, an old friend of the Twinning Association, proposed a toast to our friends in Swidnica; none of us speaks Polish and we are grateful to Donna for her linguistics skills.

Valence was addressed by Joy Phillips who wished our French friends a very Happy New Year.

 

The evening continued with some exuberant Scottish dancing which finished with all those present joining together for ‘Auld Lang Sang’ accompanied by the bagpipes.

With energy left, the dancing continued … it was indeed a very happy evening.

Thank you to all who contributed and participated – each one of you was an important part of the occasion. 

 

Joy Phillips

Chair, TTA