OS Dinner in Edinburgh

10 November 2017

On Friday 10 November, 21 Old Stoics met in Edinburgh to commemorate fallen Scottish Old Stoics.

With Remembrance Day in the forefront of minds, we hoped to be able to provide a memorable evening, in respect of these promising brave young men who were taken far too early.
 
Major Robin Maclean, Adrian Laird-Craig (Bruce 72) and Tim Dew (Chandos 90) very kindly offered to assist in making the occasion truly memorable.
 
We welcomed our guests, at the kind invitation of our host Major Robin Maclean, to the Edinburgh Garrison Officers’ Mess at Edinburgh Castle, for a Champagne Reception with mouth-watering canapés, to allow us to pay tribute to our fallen military servicemen. The views from the Garrison only further highlighted how exceptionally spoiled we were to be in such beautiful surroundings.
 
John Fingleton (Chatham 66) thanked our guests for coming and gave a moving speech about our fallen Old Stoics, in particular, Major John Thompson (Jock) McKellar Anderson (Chatham 36) who was awarded the Victoria Cross.  Indeed, it is worth mentioning that Jock shared a study with Leonard Cheshire during his time at Stowe, who was also awarded the VC.  Our guests held a minute's silence to remember them all.  It was only fitting that a verse of the ‘For the Fallen’ poem was read aloud, by John to the group. We then raised our glasses out of respect and a group photograph concluded the Reception.
 
We guided our guests into taxis and made the short journey to the Hotel du Vin for the remainder of our evening.  We were directed in to the Whisky Snug to enjoy a glass of fizz before making our way into the Burke & Hare Room, so duly named as a stunning bespoke mural of the infamous Scottish pair Burke & Hare covers an entire wall, for a sumptuous three course Dinner and excellent wines.
 
Whilst our guests were enjoying a glass of Whisky, Jonathan Hall (Bruce 79) Chairman of the Old Stoic Society, addressed the room, thanking everyone for taking the time out of their week to join us in Edinburgh.  Adrian Laird-Craig (Bruce 72) followed on and gave a rousing speech about the details and importance of the evening.
 
It was delightful to see so many Old Stoics of varying vintages come together for this momentous occasion, sharing tales, witty anecdotes and some even meeting for the first time. An ardently enjoyable evening.
 
Our thanks go to Major Robin Maclean for being such an attentive host and to Adrian Laird-Craig and Tim Dew for overseeing the planning of the evening.  A special mention must go to Michael Goodwin (Cobham 58) and Lt Col Richard Spencer (Grafton 62) for providing such marvellous and interesting stories from their experiences during their time in the Navy.