In a nutshell, the Burns night celebration was culturally a great success, the music and the poetry and the ceremonies beautifully executed by the Players.
The three course traditional meal, accompanied by oceans of whiskey, was thoroughly enjoyed by all the guests but….
We were thrown off balance as many of the guests didn’t arrive until half an hour after we were due to start at 7pm, which meant that the programme was rushed, and because we had to finish the music at 10pm (licensing regs), we couldn’t get everything in. We’ll have to sort that out before another concert.
The worst failure was due to the fact that we didn’t have enough people to help us. Katy was there from the Museum staff, purely to see that all the rules and regulations of the House were met. We should have had Friens there to run it. I have to thank sincerely Sandra, who came in (on her way to an evening out)to deal with the tickets, but it really needs at least three people on the door.
I want to thank Margaret, who did her best to serve the drinks with the help of Mike Rawlings- thanks to Mike too and to Sandie for bringing 14 guests.
Financially, I believe at the last count we will have made over £500, from the takings and thanks to donations of 7 bottles of whiskey and a substantial cheque from Margaret to pay for the musicians meal.
We all have a lot to learn from this – not the least of which is that we must have at least four Friends to run the affair with me.
Let’s talk about it at the next meeting. (Note to Shireen to put it on the Agenda. Thanks)