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by Jonathon Simpson
The Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia Burns Supper was held in Edinburgh on Saturday 18th January. Often an annual event, after a small hiatus in recent years, it felt hugely appropriate to step into our black-tie eveningwear to celebrate our bard and band in the stately surroundings of The Royal Scots Club. As a group, we almost always don our finery throughout the year to impress others, so it is a real treat for us to have an evening of entertainment directed for us instead.
And entertained we were!
Once a few welcome refreshments were imbibed in the ante room, our Master of Ceremonies invited our 80 or so guests from Boghall, Peoples Ford and the RSPBA into the grandeur of the Hepburn Suite: our home for the formalities and festivities to come. MC, Alan Irvine, was instrumental in organising a great many events for Boghall during his time with us as a snare drummer and Vice-President. We are grateful for his expertise on evenings such as these. It probably wouldn’t feel like a Boghall Burns Supper without Alan’s enthusiastic Ulster tones leading us through the evening.
Or, of course, a bagpipe. I did say that us band members are there to be entertained, but this isn’t exclusively the case. Each year, a select few pipers and drummers are volunteered(!) to take up musical roles or depart their comfort zone and enter the world of public speaking performance. First up to the groanin’ trencher of a plate was Finlay Frame to address the haggis, led in by our duty piper Callum Davidson.
There are various ways to skin a haggis, and Finlay took a novel approach to get the room onside for his oration. Earlier in the evening, Finlay managed to quietly ask each of the guests and indeed various staff members if they would help him out by performing the Address in his place. With the haggis, chef and piper in place on stage, he continued his charade of unpreparedness by suggesting his spare time recently was consumed by learning the band’s 2025 repertoire. Cunningly played, Piper Frame!
Treasurer and Novice Juvenile A Pipe Major (am I the first to type that? Congratulations by the way, Hutch!) Alastair Hutcheon gave us the Selkirk Grace before dinner was served. I have reason to believe he may not been as hungry as the rest of us, due to a very late afternoon panini and chips, but the rest of us commenced our feasts with haggis, neeps and tatties before the main event of beef brisket. Regular BBS attendees might have drawn comparison between our previous hosts’ Blade of Hilcroft Beef but, of course, that would be the thief of joy. Dessert, teas and coffees done, and Alan invited us to return swiftly to take our seats for the night’s “big one” – the immortal memory.
John Wallace was invited to take on this responsibility and we were privileged to have him accept. Hugely adept at capturing, and maintaining, the attention of the room, John began by sharing his respect for our organisation and his friends within.
The next minutes were a whirlwind as a battery of jokes and one-liners on almost any subject you can think of made their way over the room. I think this may have caught a few supper-goers off-guard. If they might have been expecting a dry and dreary delivery, this was the opposite. John descended from his stand-up stage and down to the ballroom floor to give us the serious, educational and insightful part of Rabbie’s memory. Listening to John as he brought his own perspective on the bard’s, at times, troubled life, while interspersing the story with bursts of lyric and prose, reminded me of a piobaireachd master in full flow. The room was encapsulated; the high ceilings filled.
One might traditionally expect the immortal memory to be immediately followed by a lament from the Duty Piper, but our Callum decided to buck this trend. Some speculation ensued as to his whereabouts, but what Callum lacked in punctuality at times on Saturday night, he made up for with a wonderful bagpipe. I’m sure Callum was away tuning to ensure he would do Ross Walker’s Westlin' Winds arrangement justice on the new, to him, instrument belonging to the Walker family.
Family is a strong, emotive word. I’ve often heard our organisation described as a “family”. I’ve never really thought about it too often. I was born a few days away from a Major Championships in Ayr in 1989, and my Dad allegedly didn’t miss a Boghall practice or either of the big days (the championships, or my arrival…) so I suppose I am part of the family. Is it a lazy comparison, because we have so many relatives in the band? On some levels, perhaps. It might be helpful to see ourselves as others see us.
Those of us within the organisation have an idea of the bonds forged by hard work, dedication, inspiration, failure and success over the years and David Burnside paid sterling tribute to three of our retiring members. I have never been a Pipe Major, Pipe Sergeant, Lead Drummer, Flank Drummer nor office bearer in a Grade 1 Band but I imagine these positions to be like the great offices of state in the UK Government. The roles carry huge pressure, workload, questions and opinions from every direction, and ultimately a great responsibility for the happiness of people you care about. Ross Harvey, Ian Tobin and Grant Walker have covered all of these bases between them over the years and there was no better person than incoming Band President, David Burnside, to put our thanks to them in words.
Brian Gilda was last to take to the podium to offer his personal tributes. He pointed out the parallels between his changing role within Peoples Ford and our longstanding members stepping away from the band. We presented Brian with a framed World Champions banner by way of a token of appreciation and memento. Brian led the band off the field with the Worlds Trophy in 2023 and he was very modest to say that he simply lets us get on with doing what we do. I would disagree there. As well as the obvious named sponsorship, Brian has always believed in the band. Possibly more than we did in ourselves, but sometimes you need family to drive you on.
When asked in early 2023 what he was most looking forward to from the band that year, he responded with a knowing glint in his eye: “having a beer with the band, when they win it”.
After a vote of thanks from MC Alan, he took his seat behind the drum kit in Michael Garvin’s Ceilidh Band and we danced the rest of the evening away in style. The 2025 Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia Burns Supper was a huge success, and we thank everyone involved in putting together our formal family get-together.