By Zaaheda Dadhiwala

On Saturday 23rd January after a tiring night of festivities, 3 members of JCI Barnsley decided to brave the cold and public transport to take part in JCI Edinburgh's homage to the great Scottish poet Robert Burns. Looking forward to a weekend of haggis, whisky and for some, deep- fried battered Mars bars!

After 6 hours of travelling on the great British railway and getting there with moments to spare before the supper we were treated to a night of superb Scottish hospitality and celebrations.

The occasion kicked off with public speeches made by the 2011 President Pauline McLeod, followed by the Selkirk Grace from JCI London President Sarah Beckwith. The guests were then treated to a bagpipe procession of the haggis and a fantastic traditional ‘toast to the haggis' by Aileen Noble from JCI Aberdeen. Robin Harper MSP provided an interesting and informative tribute with his Immortal Memory to Robert Burns.

The tribute to the poet was closed with the ‘Toast to the Lassies' led by Carrick Flockhart and the ‘Reply to the Laddies' by Laura Hutton which had the crowd nearly falling off their chairs with laughter and clearly proved that girls always have the last say! The night was rounded off by some traditional Ceilidh dancing into the wee hours with Ceilidh rockers Whisky Kiss.

A huge well done goes out to the project leader Mhairi McCallum and her team for giving us an experience which I am sure we will all remember for a long time!