And long-distance video greetings will be exchanged between the civic leaders of the Scottish capital and the "Edinburgh of the South" for the first time at Dunedin’s Burns Night celebration next Wednesday. The Dunedin event is being staged at the Toitu Otago Settlers Museum and will celebrate the Scottish bard, Robert Burns, and Dunedin’s links with Scotland.
Toitu curator Sean Brosnahan, who has been the event’s MC for the past three years, was "thrilled" when Lord Provost Donald Wilson "acknowledged the inspiration" for the Scottish charity event during his visit to Dunedin last year.
And Mr Brosnahan was "really chuffed" to hear about the large scale of the planned Edinburgh dinner and the "philanthropic angle".
The Edinburgh event will also be held next week and aims to raise "thousands of pounds" for OneCity Trust, which helps the poor.
And on the Lord Provost’s blog site (www.edinburgh.gov.uk/blog/lordprovostsblog) he was "delighted to film a Burns Night toast to the mayor and people of our twin city".
He had filmed his greeting in the "Dunedin Room" in the Edinburgh City Chambers, which featured New Zealand wood panelling and a painting of Dunedin.
Mr Brosnahan said the tradition of celebrating Burns’ birthday was developed by a group of Burns’ friends soon after he died in 1796.
The "Burns Supper" on January 25 quickly became an institution in Scotland and was spread throughout the world by Scottish migrants.
Burns Suppers had been celebrated in Dunedin since the mid-1850s, reflecting the city’s "rich heritage of Scottishness".
A Burns Supper had recently been organised jointly by the Dunedin Burns Club — one of the oldest such clubs in the world — and the museum.
The Lord Provost had provided a videotaped greeting last year, and when he was asked for a second for this year, he provided it and also requested a "reciprocal message" of greeting from Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull.
There was "no denying Dunedin’s Scottish heritage" but it was important to "maintain traditions like the dinner", Mr Brosnahan said.
Tickets were available until Monday evening at Toitu, and he was keen to encourage more people to attend the 7pm paid-entry dinner.
