Boarders’ Burns Night 2023

Thursday 2nd February saw the annual Boarders’ Burns night take place at Marlborough College Malaysia. This event celebrates the life and works of Robert Burns, renowned as the national poet of Scotland. Boarders from all four houses joined together for an evening of good food, dancing and truly Scottish speeches.

The evening began with speeches by a representative of each boarding house reciting poems written by Robert Burns. Accompanied by a traditional cock-a-leekie soup, and a slightly less traditional haggis poke bowl, pupils enjoyed a dinner of conversation, laughter and first-time-tries of the interesting dish that is haggis.

Mr Cowie ‘presented’ the haggis to the boarders, accompanied by Mr McDiarmid on the bagpipes. The dish was then offered to all boarders as an addition to their poke bowl, and much to the delight of Mr Cowie, by the end of the night, it had all been eaten.

As the evening drew to a close, the boarders made their way to the Wykeham Hall where a traditional Scottish ceilidh awaited them. A ceilidh is a series of dances that range in complexity, but are intended to unite the whole community. This was certainly the case for our MCM celebration as all 150 boarders gave their very best shot at the complicated dances with huge grins upon their faces.

This event provides a wonderful opportunity for the boarding community to experience something truly special and different from around the world. A big ‘thank you’ must go to Mr Cowie, Mr Harkins and Mr McDiarmid for running such an excellent MCM Burns Night.