Everything from have a go Highland Games events to speed porridge and haggis pie eating, highland dancing demonstrations and a host of musical entertainment , which will run from 10am until about 2.30pm in the Octagon.
This free event will go ahead, rain or shine.
For the full St Andrews Day experience, be in the Octagon promptly to enjoy the opening of the celebrations, and wear some tartan to fly the flag for Scotland.
Following the stirring sight and sound of the City of Dunedin Pipe Band marching through the Octagon, revellers will be welcomed mid morning by Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich .
Another highlight of the event will be a dramatic, captivating haggis ceremony, led by Ian Seatter.
The society is thrilled to have strongman Danny Devine return along with Te Ngaru Wehi.
They will be lifting the ‘‘Stones of Manhood’’, as well as demonstrating the Stone carry .. advice and tips on lifting will be provided for those who would like to have a go afterward.
Alongside the busy programme of performances, events, and activities, the St Andrews Day celebrations will also offer the chance to sample a diverse range of food and drink.
After a day of immersion in Scottish culture, the celebrations will conclude with lone piper Brendon Fairburn, followed by a chance for everyone in the Octagon to join together and sing Flower of Scotland.
The St Andrew’s Day celebration relies on volunteers for its success, and the Dunedin-Edinburgh Sister City Society is looking for volunteers to help out.
If you are interested, please contact the society by email at DunedinEdinburghSisterCity@gmail.com or via its facebook page.
* The Dunedin Edinburgh Sister City Society acknowledges the following businesses and organisations for their continued support: Harraways, Leckies Butchery, Nairn's Oatcakes, Evansdale Cheese, Emersons Brewery, Albar, Hirepool, OAR FM Dunedin, Dunedin City Council, Mediaworks, NZME , Caledonian Society ,Bracken restaurant , Otago Community Trust , Bendigo Valley and Aotearoa Gaming Trust .
SISTER CITY SOCIETY
The sister-city relationship between Dunedin and Edinburgh was first established in July, 1974, and was revitalised by Mayor Sukhi Turner in 2004.
At a public meeting that year, the Dunedin-Edinburgh Sister City Society was formed with the purpose of re-establishing the link with Edinburgh, as well as promoting the Scottish heritage and “feel” of Dunedin.
Another major purpose of the society has been as a channel for the flow of information between Dunedin City Council and the various Scottish societies in the city.
Building stronger links between Dunedin and Edinburgh and encouraging celebrations such as St Andrew’s Day, on November 30, has been a key focus of the group.
In 2016, the Dunedin-Edinburgh Sister City Society was pivotal in the relocation of the Sylvia Stewart sculpture — depicting a large Scottish stone — to an area near the Water of the Leith within the University of Otago campus.
This sculpture has a “twin” sitting near the waterfront in Edinburgh.
Feeling that St Andrew’s Day was being overlooked by the Dunedin community, the society decided to re-establish celebrations of Scotland’s national day.
Since 2007, St Andrew’s Day has been marked each year on November 30, with a public celebration of Scottish culture, food, drink, music and dancing in the Octagon.
In the past five years, the event has enjoyed a renewed vigour, adding to its early beginnings with a wider range of traditional and contemporary activities for all ages to enjoy.
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
10am: Opening with City Of Dunedin Pipe Band upper lawn. Then onto carriageway
10.05- 10.15am: City Of Dunedin Pipe Band
10.15-10.30 am: Dunedin Harmony Chorus
10.35-10.55am: McCatgut ’n Steel
11.00- 11.10 Speeches and formalities, led by mayor Jules Radich
11.10-11.30am: Dunedin Junior Highland Dancers
11.30-11.45 am: Robert Scott’s Tangle-Trad Interpretations
11.45 – 12.00 pm : Blackies Haggis Pie Eating Contest – all ages
12.00-12.15 pm : Dunedin Scottish Fiddle Orchestra
12.20- 12.35pm Haggis Ceremony led by Iain Seatter
12.40-12.55 pm: Grumpy Scotsman
1.00-1.20 pm : Stones of Manhood / Stone carrying demonstrations and timed lift routine
1.20-1.35 pm: Michael Cathro - Edinburgh Songbook
1.40 -1.50pm: Harraway’s Speed Porridge Eating Contest – all ages
1.55-2.10pm: John McGlashan Pipe Band
2.15: Solo piper, Brendon Fairbairn followed by all-in with Flower of Scotland to close.
* Allie Simpson Children’s Celtic storytelling on the upper lawn in gazebo.
* Edinburgh Council room tours, with Steve Walker at 11.30am and 1.30pm.
*Have A Go Stone Carrying and Lifting with Danny Devine & Te Ngaru Wehi
New to 2022
* Comedic commentary and mc work from Dunedin’s Improsaurus covering all the main feature events from 11.45 am
* The big blow off ( bagpiping but not as you know it on the trailer dancing stage throughout the day ) who can make the loudest noise over a minute’s duration of blowing a set of bagpipes - open to all in between band stage activities ( can use own pipes or the society’s provided )
STEVE’S TOURS
Guided tours of the Edinburgh Room in the Municipal Chambers will form part of the celebration of St Andrew’s Day in the Octagon this Sunday , 29th November.
The annual celebration is being organised by the Dunedin-Edinburgh Sister City Society.
The elegant Edinburgh Room is a permanent reminder of Dunedin’s historic and ongoing links with the capital of Scotland.
It exhibits a number of gifts from the City of Edinburgh and it also features a significant painting of Scottish literary interest – a portrayal of the only encounter between poet Robert Burns and a teenage Walter Scott in the company of a number of luminaries of the Scottish enlightment.
The painting, by Charles Hardie, was gifted to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 1908 by Mr Watson Shennan , an Central Otago runholder, following its appearance at the New Zealand International Exhibition of 1906-07.
current councillor Steve Walker will lead the tours of the Edinburgh Room and will describe the story behind the painting. The 40-minute free tours will leave from the Municipal Chambers upper Octagon at 11.30am and 1.30 pm on Sunday.
