Burns Supper in Bristol, February 2025 

On the 8th of February 2025 Gilly Wilson (Hanking Evans) and Andy Vaughan organised a Burns Supper in Bristol for the Jo Walters Trust and the local Scouts, and boy they did a wonderful job!

The sell out event brought together a wonderfully diverse group of people who ranged from people in the local area involved with the scouts, to former Bristol students and friends of Jo, and some of us even travelled from Scotland to be there. Many people had never danced a reel before and were guided through these intricacies by a very skilled reels organiser, dancing to a super band. It was testament to his enthusiasm that the floor packed for every dance with young and old(er!). The haggis was addressed in no uncertain terms by Eliza and Peter, who took great delight in cutting it up 'wi’ ready slight' and conveyed with feeling its 'warm-reekin, rich' splendour. Burns would have been proud, and Jo would have been thrilled.

So many people worked exceptionally hard to bring it all off, including the bar 'staff', raffle ticket & (delicious homemade) cake sellers, the sausages/onions and haggis disher outers, not to mention those who had to deal with the plumbing. Many hands also helped with lights, decorations, furniture, carrying supplies, sweeping / cleaning and raffle drawing.

It was wonderful to see so many people having a great time celebrating Burns and all things Scotland. Jo would have loved everything about it: one of her favourite things was getting people together especially to dance reels, and particularly if they were novices. 

Not only all of that but it also raised £1,440 which was split between the Scouts and the JWT. This is all the more impressive given the tickets and food/drink were all kept to the lowest possible cost. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Gilly and Andy who made it all such a success!