Burns Supper is an extra special feast for the Perth club founded 150 years ago
24.01.2023 - 15:07 / dailyrecord.co.uk
A very special Burns Night Supper will be taking place in Perth on Saturday, January 28.
The Perth Burns Club (PBC) is marking 150 years since it was founded as a Fair City-based appreciation society for poet Robert Burns.
Modern day dinner guests can look forward to donning a kilt or an evening frock and enjoying a splendid three-course haggis feast at the Salutation Hotel in Perth.
All the ritual, music and ceremony is kept lovingly intact just as would have been on show when the club first gathered to mark the Scottish bard’s birthday in 1873.
PBC president Joan Allan will oversee a programme of traditional songs, music and reciters “of the accustomed high standard” seen at previous dinners plus guests can expect a fond dip into the club’s archive.
Records of the first ‘Burns Festival’ held by the club in 1873 tell of a joyful evening: “On Friday evening, a number of gentlemen met in the Exchange Hotel, George Street, and celebrated in a convivial and hearty manner the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns.
“Mr Nicol presided and Mr Black was croupier. The toast of ‘The Immortal Memory of Burns’ was given in most felicitous terms by the chairman, and was responded to by the company with the utmost enthusiasm."
It was agreed in the course of the evening that a Burns Club should be formed in Perth.
The Perth Burns Club was formally instituted on February 8, 1873 at a meeting in the Stormont Arms Hotel when Thomas B Nicoll, a local stationer, was elected as the first president.
Basically an all-male literary society, the club met on the first Saturday evening of each month with additional whist parties held on Wednesday evenings.
It was not till 1987 that women were invited to join the club. The club claimed to be pioneers of
