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Robbie Burns celebration raises funds for Alzheimers

For the second year, the celebration of the Bard of Ayrshire’s birthday has been used to help raise money
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Ronda McCulloch’s dancers are performing a traditional Scottish dance

For the second year, the celebration of the Bard of Ayrshire’s birthday has been used to help raise money for research into Alzheimer’s disease.

Though the totals aren’t known, organizer Teresa Fisher believes the event will be on par with last year, or perhaps a little lower as they didn’t sell as many tickets this year as last.

Fisher reduced the number of tickets available as last year she found the event over-crowded.

The annual celebration of Robbie Burns, Scotland’s national poet, is celebrated at Legions across Canada, and elsewhere in the world. He’s most famous for the song Auld Lang Syne, the song sung at Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve).

Guests of the evening were treated to a supper of roast beef and mashed potatoes, with the traditional haggis making an appearance.

The dinner followed the format that Burns’ suppers follow world-wide, with the piping and cutting of the haggis coming after grace. As the haggis is cut, Burns’ poem, Address to a Haggis, is read.

While the event has been happening in Stettler for decades, Fisher has been involved for nearly 20 years, after being introduced to the traditional event by Marge Spensley. Two years ago, after Alzheimer’s intruded in her life, Fisher decided to try to raise money for the cause.

“I had my first experience with the disease,” Fisher said. “My brother is in the first stages of the disease.”

Some weeks, Fisher explains, her brother is on the ball, sharp as a tack, but then he becomes confused.

“He doesn’t forget people,” she said, her Scottish burr more evident as she spoke about her sibling. “He becomes confused. Do I live here? Are these my things?”

She said that though the disease hasn’t affected her own health, watching how difficult it is for her brother and his family has been painful – and it made her want to act.

“I didn’t know January was Alzheimer’s month when I decided to do this,” she said. “It just worked out.”

Fisher decided to co-opt the Robbie Burns supper because “it’s always been well attended,” and this year was no different, she noted.

In addition to the “wonderful supper,” the gathered guests were treated to a performance on the pipes by husband-and-wife pipers Michael and Marian McLetchie of Innisfail. The two piped as the Haggis was born into the hall by the official Haggis Bearer, Joseph Kelly. Singer Evelyn Shursen sang ‘The Star o’Robbie Burns.’

There was also Highland dancing from dancers with Rhonda McCulloch’s School of Dance, while Tom Fisher acted as the master of ceremonies.

No one left the evening with an empty stomach, and Fisher said she can’t wait for next year, when she hopes she can continue to contribute to the Alzheimer Society of Canada.