EDSA 90th anniversary

The EDSA 90th Anniversary Dinner-Dance was held on Saturday March 17, 2018 in Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel, and was enjoyed by around 200 guests, including current president Margaret Simpson (who is also a former president) and former presidents Derek Irvine, Andrew Thomson, Erik Young and Hugh Halcrow. There were also guests from kindred associations - the Edinburgh Caithness, Edinburgh Orkney and Edinburgh Sutherland Associations, Glasgow Orkney & Shetland Association and Caithness, Orkney & Shetland Association of Aberdeen.

We were delighted that the dance music was provided by Da Fustra who have a long association with EDSA (when the band was founded by Shetland students in Edinburgh around 1969 they used to practice in the EDSA former premises at Zetland Hall at the end of Pilrig Street) and founder member Cecil Hughson was playing while another founder, Maurice Smith, was a guest. We were very honoured that fiddle player Alan Gifford had composed a tune for the occasion - "Edinburgh and District Shetland Association 90th Anniversary". This has since been entered into the Shetland Accordion and Fiddle Club tune competition (just after our event), and was announced as the winner. All music was entered without composer or title details. Another reminder from Alan - during the dances, the band included Willie Johnston's tune "Rea's Return" and Tom Georgesons's tune "Glendinning Reel", because of EDSA connections.

It really was a splendid night, good food, great music and a chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. A lot of folk put a lot of work into organizing this, thanks to them, and it all came together for an excellent occasion. A variety of photos and video clips, including Alan Gifford's tune, have been posted on the EDSA Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/edinburghshetlanders/ and a small selection are posted below in case you have any difficulty in accessing that. See the videos here. We would welcome any photos any guests took on the night - post them to our Facebook page (best shared as an album if you have several) or send as a JPG file to Robin Barclay (see contacts).

Some photos of the night (most are on the Facebook page) - click on any image to enlarge it.

Gathering and drinks reception in the Holyrood Suite before dinner: