The 24 of January was the date of the resurrection of the LVG celebrating the life and works of the poet Burns (its also a damn fine excuse for a semi-formal knees-up, and just a touch of danger; with all those kilts about). So with this in mind, the bonnie Mick arranged for a little swally of like-minded folk to take place at The Cittie of York public house and the tasteful ticketing provided by Sally Stratton let the revelries commence.

This undertaking was last attempted four years ago to great success, would history repeat itself or would that be the haggis getting its revenge?

Mr Smith who would be the master of ceremonies for the evening made the introductions and he gave a brief online into the man whose works we were celebrating.Then, as by way of the fact I can't keep a Scottish accent going for too long; I read two poems by Steve Severin of the .band

Siouxsie and the Banshees both of which had no Celtic connotation but mildly erotic to my surprise, were well received.

A true Scot was next in the running of cultured prose:- Iain Notman gave a hearty rendition of the Burns poem "To a mouse" with subtitles provided by Esme, to whom we owe thanks, as her synchronicity with the spoken word was infallible. Our resident poet, Lorraine Nottage, not to be left out of such a night, also recited some of her own work for the enjoyment of all.
Thus at this juncture Mick Smith headed back into the fray with an inspired reading of McGonagall`s poem "Assassination attempt on Queen Victoria"(God Bless Her) after this the important duty of handing out the single malt then commenced. The sacred liqueur was dispensed among the throng for the solemn duty of toasting the monarch, or in our case Vlad "the Impaler" Tepes.

Then with the mists arising (not bad considering it was indoors) the noble haggis was piped, or clarinet-ed, in by Irianwen to the tune "A man's a man for all that". The "address to the haggis" was then made by Iain, from memory no less and the poor wee haggis was then devoured and greatly enjoyed. After the last morsels of the brave haggis were being masticated, more music followed Irianwen played "My love is like a red red rose" to usher in the next instalment of the night's proceedings.
Lorraine again sprang into verse, reading and a cappella singing as a start to this the second half of the eve. As the bonhomie grew to an almost tactile force, the decision was for the raffle to be called, Stacey, the artful gent that he is, not only sold the raffle tickets throughout the evening but drew them as well. A single malt going to Paul Ewen who was virtually unrecognisable as his head was covered in prosthetic make-up.

Then it was time for the erotic orations of Rosie Lugosi, who sang some well known tunes with her own stamp burned into the well upholstered craft of such legends as Elvis, Andy Williams, Aretha Franklin and her rendition of the Shirley Bassey classic "Diamonds are forever" will stay in everyone's mind for all time. So, four years in the waiting and bloody well worth every second.