It's Burns at the double for Black Watch wives
WHEN your husband disappears with the ''Boys'' from 7pm and doesn't appear until 5pm the following day, what do you do? Party.
That's exactly what Diane Polson and 119 wives of the Black Watch Regiment will be doing next Wednesday at Stanley Fort.
They are organising an all-women Burns Night Supper, a retaliation to the customary all-male event held recently to honour Scotland's poet Robert Burns.
It's been 10 years since the wives had a similar supper, which took place in Germany, explained Mrs Polson, president of the entertainments committee of the Wives Club. Many of the women are Irish, English and German, not Scottish, and are intrigued by this Scottish tradition.
The soldiers had their Burns Suppers over three consecutive Fridays from January 21 to February 4. The women will be using the same regimental silver, plates and Robbie Burns table mats as their spouses. The supper will follow the same format as the men's.
The ladies will be ushered into the dining room by the pipers of the Black Watch. The menu includes cock-a-leekie soup (chicken and leek soup), haggis imported from Scotland, mashed potatoes and turnips, roast beef, trifle and bannocks (oat cakes) and cheese.
Unlike their spouses, the women forgo the wee drams for wine. A few honoured men are invited to read Burns' Selkirk Grace, address the haggis and recite 26 verses of Tam O'Shanter by heart. At the men's supper, the speeches and dinner begin at 7pm and do not finish until after one in the morning.
Women's speeches are shorter, but like the men, no one is allowed to leave the table until the speeches are finished.
Within the Black Watch, it has always been a tradition that these Burns suppers are compulsory and all-male. One argument put forward by the men was that women couldn't keep quiet for six hours of speeches.
