The Gentlemen's Ale Sampling Society 1982-2017 35 YEARS OF BEERS
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NEXT MEETING
JANUARY
BURNS NIGHT
Learn the Bagpipes
The Roffen Suite
TUESDAY 9TH JANUARY The second Tuesday - not the first Tuesday!!!
7.30 arrival please - Upstairs in The Roffen Suite.
DRESS - KILTS No wimping out!
We start with a Piper, Pipe Major Alex Burt, giving us our first and only GASS Bagpiping lesson.
We then sit down for the full BURNS BOLLOCKS dinner. And yes, I know this is not the right date! Just roll with it!
Haggis, neeps, the works! There will be a selection of Whiskeys to savour. There will of course be readings and songs by GASS members (volunteers step forward please)
During dinner our piper will play the good old Scottish tunes, some English pub tunes and for the older gentlemen, some WW2 ditties.
A bit about Pipe Major Alex Burt
My name is Alex Burt and I started playing the bagpipes in 1962 when I joined
the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers as an Army Apprentice at
Arborfield in Berkshire , where I was taught by Pipe Major Ronnie Carver who
served with the Highland Light Infantry. Over my 25 plus years service I played
in practice with several army bands including The Black Watch , The Gordon
Highlanders , The Scots Guards , The Royal Air Force , and the Royal Tank
Regiment. When I left the army I joined the Maidstone band in Kent which
eventually became the City of Rochester Pipe Band and I played with them for 25
years. In 2013 I left them and joined The Southern Highlanders , an
international composite band who play all over the continent and south of
England. I played with the St Andrews Pipe Band from Hamble - le - Rice near
Southampton on a trip to the D-Day celebrations in Normandy in 2013. In 2014 and
2015 I played with the Centenary Pipes and Drums at the Birmingham International
Military Tattoo. I also play at the 1st Greenhithe Highlanders Pipe Club where
the aim of the organisation is to learn and play with passion and clarity.
Through them I have also recently started to write my own pipe tunes and with
some success. In 2016 I reformed the Army Apprentices Pipes and Drums - TAAPAD -
to play at reunions etc. Well received at the first reunion in July and great to
get all the ex-apprentices bqack together playing for their comrades
REMEMBER
Dress - KILTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FEBRUARY Tuesday 6th Feb TBN
MARCH THE END OF AN ERA DINNER at THE ROFFEN
Tuesday 6 March
Probably a Black Tie Slap UP with entertainment (Len, a good chance for your comedians?)
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