The first total Lunar Eclipse of the Third Millennium
brings ‘Let it Blaw’ business to a standstill
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The Moon !
On the evening of Tuesday 9th January 2001, a ‘Let it Blaw’ Committee Meeting was adjourned when several members started seeing things. Read the minute of this momentous occasion as recorded by Club Secretary Raymond Ward by clicking here
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Burns’ House Appeal
In the minute of the Committee Meeting on 29th January 1886, it was recorded that a letter had been received from Rev. John Paton, St Michael’s Manse, Dumfries, requesting a subscription from ‘Let it Blaw’ to aid in keeping Burns’ House in Dumfries. The matter was discussed and the Committee agreed to send a donation of 10/- (Ten Shillings – 50p today). Not much chance of getting 50p out the Treasurer these days ! It was later reported in ‘The Scotsman’; “An appeal had been made to all known Burns Clubs, but it had been ignored by nearly all of them, only the Dumfries, New York, Balerno and Langholm Clubs making any response.”
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Live Satellite Link at ‘Let it Blaw’ 1996
At the 1996 Annual Supper, as the time approached for Club President Alex Hood to call for the Bard’s Oration, our Bard, Jimmy Johnstone, was in Texas on a shooting trip.
With the technical expertise of Club Member Ken Falconer, Jimmy had pre-recorded his Oration before leaving for Texas with the intention that it be played on two large monitors located on the stage in the Kestrel Hotel.
The Chairman jumped to his feet making a sudden pre-planned interruption of Gordon Grant in the middle of a recitation of “Willie Wastle.” The Chairman apologised but stated Gordon’s recitation had to be interrupted due to “the Club’s satellite link with Texas coming in.”
The Company watched in amazement as the monitors burst into life. The “live link” started with Ken’s brilliantly arranged static interference, a countdown for the link going live, then the NBC Sports Channel giving basketball results before, “live” from Texas, we saw Jimmy bedecked in his shooting gear. He was stumbling with his words twice asking TV crew if he was “live” and if he should go ahead, before wishing the members of
‘Let it Blaw’ a Good Evening, and apologising for the breaking signal. He thereafter launched into his Oration on the Satelite Link. On completion, Gordon Grant complained bitterly to the Chair over his recitation being interupted at the whim of some modern contraption prior to picking up “Willie Wastle” at the point he left off.
Two, if not three years later, a certain Club Member was still heard wondering how a wee Club like ‘Let it Blaw’ could have financed such a thing when the annual subscription was only £ 2.oo. Jimmy, Gordon and Ken should have received Oscars for their performances.
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Scottish Rugby Internationalist joins ‘Let it Blaw’
( New Old Cure for Wheezing Ailments discovered )
…… something completely different from the depths of ‘Let it Blaw’ records.
Click here to read all about it !
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‘Let it Blaw’ Guest Speaker …….
who fails to impress enough to become a Club Member, becomes
Governor of Bombay
Viceroy & Governor General of India
Brigadier of the Royal Company of Archers
Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire
Secretary of State for Scotland (and countless other pointless Government jobs)
not to mention Governor of the BBC and who knows what else………..
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John Colville when he was Governor of Bombay
just after his visit to ‘Let it Blaw,’ and Lady Colville (the one in the dress)
Click here to read more about the man who, with a bit more ambition, could have been one of our cronies.
if he’d played his cards right; might even have had Committee potential !
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Where do our annual Supper programmes come from ? ….
…. and which company can boast the National Museums of Scotland, the National Trust, Diageo, the National Library of Scotland, the University of Edinburgh, the Talbot Rice Galleries, Robert Wiseman Dairies, Glasgow City Council AND ‘Let it Blaw’ as their Clients? Click here to find out.
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Capt. George Clerk Cheape of Wellfield, late of the 11th Hussars,
allows his ‘Whipper-In’ to speak at ‘Let it Blaw’ ………
……..Club Records tell us that said Gentlemen’s Whipper-In, the first Englishman to propose the “Immortal Memory of Robert Burns” at ‘Let it Blaw’, caused the company to drink with “much enthusiasm”. Read about this startling development which, 100 years later, is apparently still having the same effect, by clicking here