Saturday 27th January 1996
Click for Supper Programme 1996
Click for Burns Chronicle Report 1996
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Songs and Recitation
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. Jimmy had recorded his Oration before leaving with the intention that it be played on two large monitors located on the stage in the Kestrel Hotel. With the technical expertise of Club Member Ken Falconer, and with the Chairman jumping to his feet to make a sudden planned interruption of Gordon Grant in the middle of his recitation of “Willie Wastle” due to “the Club’s satellite link with Texas coming in“, the Company watched in utter amazement as the monitors burst into life.
The “live link” started with Ken’s brilliantly arranged static interference, then 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 Satellite Link. On completion, Gordon Grant complained bitterly to the Chair over his recitation being interrupted 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 with a subscription of just £2 per year. Jimmy, Gordon and Ken should have received Oscars for their performances.