Robbie Burns Night – eat haggis!

Contrary to popular belief a haggis is not a wee furry creature that lives in the highlands of Scotland but actually a traditional cuisine from Scotland made from offal.

Burns night is a special event for Scottish people as they celebrate the bard’s birthday by traditionally having a big supper and enjoying haggis whilst reciting the famous poem by Robert Burns called Address To The Haggis (see below)

If you are looking for an excellent restaurant that has haggis on the menu try The Cambridge Chop House restaurant at No.1 Kings Parade

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If you are looking for somewhere to buy a traditional haggis head to Cousins Butchers in Newnham. https://www.cambridgebutchers.com/haggis-burns-night-supper

Address to a Haggis Translation

Good luck to you and your honest, plump face,
Great chieftain of the sausage race!
Above them all you take your place,
Stomach, tripe, or intestines:
Well are you worthy of a grace
As long as my arm.

The groaning trencher there you fill,
Your buttocks like a distant hill,
Your pin would help to mend a mill
In time of need,
While through your pores the dews distill
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour wipe,
And cut you up with ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like any ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm steaming, rich!

Then spoon for spoon, the stretch and strive:
Devil take the hindmost, on they drive,
Till all their well swollen bellies by-and-by
Are bent like drums;
Then old head of the table, most like to burst,
‘The grace!’ hums.

Is there that over his French ragout,
Or olio that would sicken a sow,
Or fricassee would make her vomit
With perfect disgust,
Looks down with sneering, scornful view
On such a dinner?

Poor devil! see him over his trash,
As feeble as a withered rush,
His thin legs a good whip-lash,
His fist a nut;
Through bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit.

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his ample fist a blade,
He’ll make it whistle;
And legs, and arms, and heads will cut off
Like the heads of thistles.

You powers, who make mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill of fare,
Old Scotland wants no watery stuff,
That splashes in small wooden dishes;
But if you wish her grateful prayer,
Give her [Scotland] a Haggis!

Other things on in Cambridge …. see link below:-

What’s On

2025 Varsity Match

The 2025 Varsity Matches will return to StoneX Stadium (home of Saracens https://saracens.com/) on 8th March 2025. Tickets for alumni, members and supporters are available through the club. Members of CURUFC have exclusive access to premium tickets in CURUFC’s reserved block.

Adult tickets are available for £30 and U16 tickets are only £15, plus £1.80 Ticketmaster fees.

Your ticket gets you access to both matches, with the women’s kick off at 12 pm followed by the men’s kick off at 3 pm.

There are also a variety of hospitality options available with exclusive discounts for CURUFC alumni.

More information here: https://www.curufc.com/Tickets.aspx 

More information about up and coming matches here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/curufc-66455423283 

Steele Bodger Tickets

The next Steele Bodger match will take place on Wednesday 27th November 2024.

https://www.curufc.com/page-204-Steele_Bodger_Match.aspx

One of the great sporting events in the calendar. See our OLD blog below:-

The Varsity Rugby Match 2022 – 150th Anniversary

Sunday 9th March 2025 – 10,000 runners

The half marathon has come round again. Starting at 4am some roads will be closed. The event will be finished around lunch time but with lots of roads closed until 5pm.

Do not attempt to drive in the centre of Cambridge on this day.

For detailed information about road closures etc., visit:-

https://cambridgehalfmarathon.com/

What’s On

170th Cambridge vs. Oxford Boat Race – Sunday 13th April 2025 – 5pm

The build-up has started at Summerset House in London with the official challenge being offered and accepted. CHANEL has also been announced as the title sponsor and time keeper for the event.

As at today Cambridge lead 87 to Oxford’s 81.  https://theboatrace.org/results

Can Cambridge take another win this year? A new captain in place.

Surely it can’t be as dramatic as the win last year with Matt Edge at stroke just managing to cling on until the finish line when he allowed himself to collapse.

Starting from the stone under Putney Bridge baring the initials UBR travelling 6.8km to another stone with the same initials at The Ship pub in Mortlake.

It usually takes around 18 minutes to travel what is known as the Championship Course.

The north side of the river in the borough of Chiswick is known as the Middlesex Station and the south in Putney is the Surrey Station.

The race travels upstream setting off when the tide is at its strongest making it as hard as possible to row.

At the start there is an advantage to being at the Surrey Station, which becomes clear by the time they reach Hammersmith Bridge. If you are leading at this point you have an 80% chance of winning the race.

If the crews are closely matched by the time they get to Chiswick Eyot (pronounced ‘Eight’) one will make their decisive move.

These boys train around 4hrs per day, 6 days per week for over 7months, whilst trying to keep up with their studies. There are around 600 stokes of the blade during the whole race for one boat.

The pressure is on. We want another win. It’s all been building up to this moment.

COME ON CAMBRIDGE!!!!!!

___________________________________________

If you are not on the banks of the river watching the race in London where is the best place in Cambridge to watch it?

Our suggestion would be to go down to the Cam and visit The Fort St. George in Midsummer Common. For more information visit https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/cambridgeshire/fort-st-george/ . It’s special to watch rowers out of the window whilst having the actual race on tv. They don’t serve a bad pint either.

A pub with a lot of rowing history that shows the race is the Champion of the Thames on King Street and although you can’t see the river from the window it is very central. https://thechampionofthethames.com/

Wherever you are watching the race feel free to scream at the screen and cheer on Cambridge!

Article by Anthony Dean, CambridgeTouristInformation.co.uk

18^th Nov 2024

Event post here:-

https://www.cambridgetouristinformation.co.uk/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=28773

Sources:-

https://www.theboatrace.org/

https://www.varsity.co.uk/sport/21187

https://cubc.org.uk/