Events
Seasons Events
AGM Meeting in the Howff
The club AGM took place in the Howff club rooms on the 29th April 2010 when Neil Johnston was installed as President for the coming year, Frank Manson elected Senior vice president and Ian McIntrye was elected as Junior vice president.
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2010/2011 Previous Years
09/05/2010 Sunday Coldstream Bridge
15/05/2010 Saturday SSCBA AGM Globe Inn
20/05/2010 Thursday Bowling Night Dock Park
05/06/2010 Saturday John Lapraik Comp. Muirkirk
26/06/2010 Saturday SSCBA Globe Inn
29/05/2010 Saturday Mauchline Holy Fair
03/07/2010 Saturday SSCBA Globe Inn
05/07/2010 Monday Jean Armour Dinner Globe Inn
11/07/2010 Sunday Wauchope Cairn, Hawick
14/07/2010 Wednesday Club Treasure Hunt
18/07/2010 Sunday Leglen Wood, Ayr
21/07/2010 Wednesday Brow Well
24/07/2010 Saturday Edinburgh Commemorative event
25/07/2010 Sunday Kilmarnock Cross
19/08/2010 Thursday “Fish & Chip” Supper
10-12/09/2010 WRBF Conference Aberdeen
18/09/2010 Saturday SSCBA Globe Inn
19/09/2010 Sunday Dumbarton Bowling Match,Dumbarton
01/11/2010 Monday Hallowe’en Supper Globe Inn
26/11/2010 Friday Dumbarton BC St. Andrew’s Dinner
30/11/2010 Tuesday St. Andrew’s Night Dinner Globe Inn
05/12/2010 Sunday St. Andrew’s Service, St. Giles, Edinburgh
20/12/2010 Monday Christmas Dinner Globe Inn
28/01/2011 Friday Dumbarton BC Burns Supper
25/01/2011 Tuesday 122nd Anniversary Dinner Globe Inn
30/01/2011 Sunday Charnwood Lodge Burns Supper
05/02/2011 Saturday SSCBA Schools Comp. Academy
19/03/2011 Saturday SSCBA Gatehouse
24/03/2011 Thursday Games Night Marchmount BC
28/04/2011 Thursday Annual General Meeting Globe Inn
Projected Excom Dates
10/05/2010 Monday Inaugural meeting & soiree
07/06/2010 Monday General
28/06/2010 Monday Jean Armour tickets and arrangements
30/08/2010 Monday Season’s programme
04/10/2010 Monday Hallowe’en Supper tickets
25/10/2010 Monday Confirmation & payment, plus St. Andrew’s Dinner tickets
15/11/2010 Monday Confirmation & payment
06/12/2010 Monday Anniversary Dinner tickets
10/01/2011 Monday Confirmation & payment
07/02/2011 Monday General
07/03/2011 Monday General
04/04/2011 Monday Pre AGM
Winter Talks & discussion Programme 2010/2011
These night are open to anyone who is interested and are usually quite informal
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Thursday 30th September 2010
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Mac Creedon
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“History of Printing”
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Thursday 28th October 2010
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Marion Aitken
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“Robert Burns & Annie Laurie at Friars Carse”
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Thursday 25th November 2010
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John Clark
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“Photos from OZ & some Poems”
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Thursday 24th February 2011
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Simon Thorp
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“The Heather Trust”
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Thursday 31st March 2011
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Denis Chanarin
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“The Loch Arthur Community”
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Thursday 21st April 2011
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Evening visit to Sulwath Brewery, Castle Douglas.
(Bookable in advance)
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All talks take place in the clubroom at 7.30pm. Friends of members are welcome.
Winter Lecture 25th March 2010 - Ian Millar - ‘The Rosmund’
Ian Millar of Thornhill was guest speaker at the Howff Club Winter Lecture on 25th March Ian raised some very interesting points concerning the supposed trip by Burns and Maria Riddell to the Lead Mine at Wanlockhead and also the legend of the carronades seized from the smuggling brig,”Rosamund” in the Solway in 1792 and the alleged attempt to ship them to the French Revolutionaries.
14 members and guests attending what proved to be a very interesting and thought provoking talk, Ian has some very strong views on whether or not Burns went to the Lead Mine at Wanlockhead with Maria Riddell, in fact he went as far in his talk to state that in his opinion Maria Riddell was an immature wee lassie and a Liar!, whilst Ian had strong opinions there was no undeniable or categorical evidence to justify his claims and the main argument revolved around the length of time it would take for to travel from Friars Carse to Wanlockhead by horse and chaise and back on horse back, given the road conditions at the time, this is an almost impossible task to verify.
As far as the legend of the carronades seized from the smuggling brig, ”Rosamund” in the Solway in 1792 is concerned, Ian certainly gave us food for thought. The is no firm evidence that Burns actually forwarded these guns to the French, although Ian argued that ad Dumfries was a trading port it would have been far easier, cheaper and safer to transport the carronades by boat to France rather than over land. Once again it is entirely up to each individual to believe what they want until documentary evidence is discovered, Ian has his own very strong views on the subject, and his own reasons for having these views.
At the end of the lecture everyone went home with their own thoughts and the discussions still go on, but there was no overall view taken, in other words do not believe everything you read or hear! We can assure everyone that no vote was taken at the Howff Club as to the rights or wrongs of Ian’s excellent and controversial talk which can be commended to any Burns enthusiast to listen to the argument and make up your own mind.
2010/2011 Activities
19/08/2010 Fish Supper Night
This was a light hearted alternative to the traditional Burns Supper held to support “The Globe Inns” 400th anniversary celebrations and our special thank to Maureen and Gordon McKerrow for the support and donations on what was superb night. James Coutts had agreed to come to The Globe and play the accordian, on several of his sets he accompanied John Caskie who was as usual in fantastic voice and our thanks to James and John for the cultural input on the evenings entertainment. We were all please to hear Bert Hasting with the Candle, John Lauder and The Mealie Puddin, Les Byres with The Rumour, Jane Brown gave us Admiral Nelson, Carlo Rinaldi recited “La Patata”, David Baird, David Millar & Gordon Johnston delivered Hugh Waters “The Twa Dugs”, and John Clark addressed “To The Fish Supper” a poem again By Hugh Water.
14/08/2010 Club Outing - West Cumbria
Member and friends travelled by coach to Jenning Brothers Brewery at Castle Brewery in Cockermouth where we we given a tour of the brewery, seeing both the modern high tech brewing process side by side with the old traditional methods and equipment which has been left in place and is now worked around but is an interesting part of the tour. We were the able to enjoy a light lunch and comment on the brewers art and skills. before we departed to Whithaven and the Beacon Centre.
Having had some time to wonder around the museum and arts centre we had a short but very interesting and informative walking tour of the harbour and old mining area of the town and learned that Whitehaven had once been the third busiest port in the UK. The Gentleman to the far right in the picture above was thought to have come from the Luxury apartment cruise liner “The World” which was at anchor just outside Whitehaven for the weekend
The fine weather helped to make the outing a very enjoyable visit to a part of the country not normally associated with tourism, the beacon centre and its walking tour is highly recommended as it brings the history of the town to life.
11/07/2010 Wauchope Cairn, Hawick
 The Burns Howff Club was once again delighted to be invited to attend the Wauchope Cairn ceremony held by the Hawick Burns Club to mark the correspondence between Mrs Scott, “Guid wife of Wauchope” and Robert Burns and also his visit. The house has now gone however the memorial shown behind the President of the Hawick Burns Club (2nd from the right) and Jane Brown (on the left hand side) if believed to have been built from stone reclaimed from the doorway of the house.
As always the Howff club members were made extremely welcome and enjoyed the afternoons hospitality and entertainment.
05/07/2010 Jean Armour Dinner
Members of the Burns Howff Club, kindred clubs and friends gathered at the Globe Inn and were piped by Pipe Major CalumWatson to the JeanArmour statue where they were welcomed by President Neil Johnston to the 6th commemoration of the life and dedication of Jean Armour to Robert Burns our national bard. Past President John Caskie delivered a superb and heart felt oration to Bonnie Jean.
Returning to the Globe Inn for the Jean Armour Dinner the assembled group enjoyed their meal after the Rev Ella Pennington delivered the grace in her unique style. 
The entertainment started with a song from Bill Welsh accompanied by Willie McRoberts on the accordion, Kirsty Solley played the fiddle and later sang to the audience, and Avril Kerr recited. Guest speaker John Young President of Helensbourgh Burns Club gave a passionate toast to Jean Armour and Sophia Harkness past President of Thornhill Burns club an educated and well researched toast to ‘the other women in Burns life’ which includes some humorous interpretations from her time as a primary school teacher.
John Young accompanied his wife Lesley, who was a professional singer, with his acoustic guitar.
Willie McRobert had the audiences feet tapping and John Caskie brought proceedings to a close when he had everyone singing. Ian McIntyre gave the vote of thanks to all present for an excellent evening .
29/05/2010 Mauchline Holy Fair
The President, Secretary, Treasurer and Librarian took the opportunity to visit the annual Mauchline Holy Fair and enjoyed an excellent day where a variety of acts appeared on the main stage including a steel band from south Cumbria and Michelle McMannus, however members of the Howff Club choose to attend performances in the church which featured Willie Stewart singing songs and ballads form the works of Robert Burns, Shelly Clark playing the Clasac and singing, and a specially written sketch featuring the people of Mauchine when Robert Burns lived and worked in the area. The fire and brimstone period preachers were always present to lecture the gathered audience about their sins and retribution. With may other people walking around the streets in period costume this was an unusual and enjoyable day out and one which I am sure that Howff Club members will attend again.
20/05/2010 Thursday Bowling Night Dock Park
Twenty four members, three spouses and two guests assembled at Dock Park for the club’s annual bowling night on 20th May when the weather, although overcast was dry and the midges, mercifully sparse.
Bowls Marshall Bob Wilson conjured up ten teams of two and bowling commenced with a will although the state of the green left a lot to be desired with a surface layer of fertiliser which contaminated the bools and caused some skin irritation. Belated apologies to anyone with latent dermatitis.
Bob’s skill at matching players with booling expertise ensured that the less able were quickly knocked out and after three ends, booling was declared concluded at 8.45pm and the calculation of the winners commenced. The company proceeded with some haste to the Globe Inn for the customary sannys and prize giving. After some hesitation, Bob passed the figures to President Neil Johnston who announced that the coveted “Draffan Cup” had been won again by John Caskie and his partner, Elaine Whitehead and the runners up, Kenneth MacKinnon and Ian Meechan.
John’s efforts to decline accepting the Cup were overruled and he was advised that if he won again, the “Draffan Cup” would be his to keep. Ian Whitehead was heard to say that Mr. Caskie turned up at his door with the cup in six months; he would not be let in.
An excellent night with fun and mixed bowling skill was enjoyed and at the Globe, the president thanked Bob Wilson and all who contributed to the success of the event.
09/05/2010 Sunday Coldstream Bridge
The President, Hon. Secretary, Treasurer and Librarian were once again honoured to be invited to lay a wreath on behalf of the Howff Club at the centre of the Coldstream bridge over the Tweed which is the point where in 1787 Robert Burns first crossed into England
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