The Club dinner was held on the clubrooms on Saturday 30th April 2022 commencing at 7.30pm.
The event was well attended with around the maximum permitted number of 120 in the crowd.
The evening was hosted by club President Drew Johnston who was joined at the top table by Club Captain Danny Owenson and two very special guests in former England International and Lions No.8 Dean Richards and former Scotland and Lions Captain, Finlay Calder.
The evening started with a welcome to all by the President and with short top table introductions completed a toast to Absent Friends was made.
The meal was then delivered to the diners efficiently and expertly by our staff with service completed before 9.00pm.
A warm thank you was given to all our catering staff for the excellent fare.
Following a short break East Lothian Provost John McMillan was invited to provide a Toast to the Club. John’s talk was full of personal thoughts and reflections and it was clear he holds the club in high regard and warm affection.
There then followed the presentation of player awards. Danny announced the winners in exemplary fashion and it was clear that everyone appreciated the efforts made by the recipients.
The President then went on to welcome all the invited guests. These included, Alex Coull (Dunbar), Chay Neill (Ross High), Keith Wallace (Haddington) and Simon Fairbairn (Preston Lodge).
Other guests specifically mentioned were Ian Leitch – our groundsman at Stoneyhill and John Buckley – groundsman at Pinkie Playing Fields who is retiring later this year after 41.5 years service.
We also welcomed two refereeing legends in Johnny Bacigalupo and Ian Goodall and a running legend, after dinner speaker and friend of the Club, George McNeil.
To help ease people back into their seats following another short comfort break the President provided a piece of rugby dinner appropriate community singing before the main event of the evening began.
A discussion then ensued between our two British and Irish Lions Legends, Dean and Finlay. Their stories were listened to with great intent by the crowd who gave the speakers the best of order. A short Q&A rounded off their segment and they finished with a Toast to the Game of Rugby Football.
Danny Owenson then presented his review of the 2021-2022 season and gave special thanks to our hard-working staff led by Neil Durham, Colin Scott, Caterer and Decorator extraordinaire, and to our retiring Coaching team of Graeme Paterson and David Officer. The final Vote of Thanks was to our special guests who added so much to this our Centenary Season Dinner.
The evening rounded off with the President leading the throng in a rousing rendition of Climb up Sunshine Mountain where all who could took to standing on their chairs to sing with gusto.
A fitting end to a great season and with the Musselburgh 7s scheduled for the 7th May we have one more opportunity to gather and enjoy each other’s company before taking a well-earned rest.