Our Burns Night supper was a great success, attended by over 50 parents, staff and committee members! One of our authentic APARC Scots Marc Perombelon read the ‘Ode to a haggis’ in authentic dialect. The whisky was also flowing as quite a number of attendees made the effort to come in tartan!
In addition to 2 Scottish themed quizzes, thanks to Guy Prendergast we learnt more of the numerous connections between France and Scotland, namely;
- one of Scotland’s other famous literary sons Robert Louis Stevenson detailed his kayak travels down the Oise river with a friend in 1876, taking in Pont Ste Maxence, Noyon, Compiegne and ending at Pontoise when he was 26,
- reputed to be the world’s longest running treaty, the Auld Alliance mutual-defence pact between Scotland and France to curb English influence endured from its signing in 1295 until 1560,
- the name of that most famous Scottish dish the haggis is derived from the French ‘hachis’,
- the Guarde Ecossaise was established as the personal bodyguard of the French monarch in the 15th century,
- French and Scottish nationals enjoyed an automatic right to citizenship of the other country for over 700 years.
As General Charles de Gaulle said when he visited Edinburgh in 1942: “I do not think a Frenchman could have come to Scotland at any time without being sensible of a special emotional awareness of the 1000 links, still living and cherished, of the Franco-Scottish alliance.
In every combat where for five centuries the destiny of France was at stake, there were always men of Scotland to fight side by side with men of France and what Frenchmen feel is that no people has ever been more generous than yours with its friendship.”