Club Social Events

Details of upcoming social events at the club will appear here, together with reviews of past events. Please contact Andrew Hannay for further information about any of the events listed.

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For a somewhat alternative take on what the fine athletes of Stew Mel get up to when they're not chasing the pigskin around the hallowed turf of Inverleith, please consult our Gossip page.

Upcoming Club social events (12/8/07)

A full calendar of Social events has been planned for the season ahead, and details of the events have been included in the Fixtures booklets that were recently sent out to Club members.

Updates on the Social calendar will appear on the website over the course of the season, but, for starters, here's how things stand at the moment:

2007

26th August (Sunday) - Club Day, Inverleith
1st September - Ladies' Day, Inverleith
29th September - Race Night, Inverleith
20th October - Sportsmans Dinner, Inverleith
24th November - Club Dinner / Dance, Capital Hotel
15th December - Christmas party, Inverleith

2008

26th January - Burns Night, Inverleith
April (date TBC) - Annual Dinner, Inverleith
June (date TBC) - Annual General Meeting , Inverleith

The first event is a family afternoon at Inverleith on Sunday 26th August, from 3 pm. This will be an ideal opportunity for Club members, both players and supporters, to entertain their families down at Inverleith before the start of what we all hope will be a successful season for all of the Club's teams. There will be a Barbecue, costing £3 per person or £5 for a couple, and the bar will be open. Hope to see you there.

The following Saturday, 1st September, sees the 1st XV entertain Jed-Forest at Inverleith on the first day of the season (kickoff 3 pm). We are marking this occasion with a Ladies' Day, when the Social Committee will be organising a light lunch and drinks before the game. Tickets for this can be bought from our Social Convener, Andrew Hannay, at a cost of £5 each. We look forward to welcoming many girlfriends, wives and mothers to Inverleith on the 1st.

Please do your best to support all of the events on our Social calendar, and let Andrew or me know if you have any ideas for other Social events.

Mike Sims

Shaun has asked me to remind all players, supporters and friends of Stewart's Melville that there will be a family afternoon at Inverleith this Sunday, 26th August, from 3 pm. There will be a Barbecue, costing £3 per person or £5 for a couple, and the bar will be open.

With a fair number of new faces at the club for the coming season, this will be an ideal opportunity to get to know each other over a few beers and to kickstart the club's social calendar. So please do your best to come along - and bring a friend (or two) with you if you can. If it helps, the weather forecast for Sunday is excellent!

So we can get an idea of numbers, it would be useful if you could let Shaun or Andrew Hannay, our Social Convener, know if you will be coming along on Sunday. Hope to see you then!

Unfortunately, due to a clash of dates with the World Cup matches, the Race Night (originally scheduled for Saturday 29th September) has been postponed, and will be rescheduled at a later date.

All is not lost if you were hoping for a beer or two after the Biggar game, though.

Here's Borth:

"We will be showing the Scotland match on Saturday night (8 pm) at Invers. It would be great if we had a large group to stay on after the 1st XV match against Biggar and the 3rd XV match against Linlithgow. With the 2nds returning from their bus trip from Ayr around 8 pm, they will no doubt be in good spirits, too!

"Please encourage as many people as possible to come along - team mates, mates, girlfriends, wives, parents and anyone else you want to bring down. Given that the Race Night was originally scheduled for this night but subsequently cancelled, it would be great if we could pack the bar on Saturday night. Hope to see you there."

In other Social news, the Sportsmans Dinner (originally scheduled for Saturday 20th October) has been postponed until February. Details to follow.

The Race Night (originally scheduled for Saturday 29th September) has been moved to Saturday 17th November.

The Sportsmans Dinner (originally scheduled for Saturday 20th October) has provisionally been moved to Saturday 16th February.

The annual Rugby Club Ball will take place on Saturday 24th November at the Edinburgh Capital Hotel on Clermiston Road. The bar licence will run from 7 pm till 2 am, which provides an extra hour's drinking! Bar prices should also be lower than they have been at the Roxburghe in previous years.

The cost of the evening remains unchanged at £35 per head, £70 per couple or £350 per table of 10. As in previous years, it is a black tie event.

The hotel can hold a maximum of 220 people, and, as tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis, please book with Riggers ASAP. Cheques, payable to SMFPRFC, should be sent to Gordon via Inverleith no later than October 31st.

Bill

Players and friends of the club are reminded that there will be a fancy dress Halloween party at Inverleith this Saturday (October 27), starting at 7 pm. All are welcome - let's build on the great turnout and atmosphere we enjoyed at Inverleith for those Saturday RWC games.

In case you are stuck for costume ideas this time around, the above shot from last year's party may help to get the old creative juices flowing. Apologies if it's put you off your roll and sausage....

Borth

Joe Camay	John Gahagan

The Sportsmans Dinner (originally scheduled for 20th October, then provisionally moved to 16th February) has finally found a home! It will now definitely take place at Inverleith on Saturday 17th May.

The evening will be opened by none other than former international referee Jim Fleming, then we have a couple of top notch speakers in Joe Camay and John Gahagan.

Joe Camay has had Inverleith in stitches before now with his deadpan delivery and bawdy banter, while former Motherwell and Morton footballer John Gahagan comes highly recommended.

The Dinner is always one of the highlights of the Club's social calendar, as well as being an important fundraiser for the Club. Tickets, priced at £35, are bound to go quickly.

So please contact me or Allan Munro as soon as possible to secure your place (or places - tables are available, as usual).

Andrew Hannay

This is a mixed company occasion, so bring your partners and friends. Please let me know ASAP if you can make it along!

Update: the Burns Supper has now been cancelled due to lack of interest. Use it or lose it, folks!

Nosebag

Burns Night - Mark II (6/2/08)

Our old mate Colin Rigby has been in touch to advise that all members and supporters of the Rugby Club are invited to come along to a Burns Supper and Ceilidh that has been organised by the FP Pipe Band.

The event is taking place at Inverleith on Saturday March 15th at 7.30 pm. Tickets are £25 each or £250 for a table of ten.

Following the cancellation of the Rugby Club event, it would be good to see some support for the Pipe Band one - the music at the ceilidh is likely to be pretty damn good, for a start!

For tickets or further information, ring Colin on 07939 067 657 for tickets or email him via ColinATpcsgukDOTcom (replace text in bold with appropriate symbols).

Commercial Break (27/2/08)

With Mother's Day almost upon us, Pete McLean has asked me to point out that his Foodiebox company have a special hamper available to mark the occasion.

As you'll see on Pete's rather flash website, £25 will get your old dear some yummy Kshocolât pink champagne truffles, a bag of finest Gourmet Blend coffee and a rather swish cafetière with which to serve up the latter. Go on - you know it makes sense!

Once you've got your mum sorted, you can then turn your thoughts to securing tickets for the Italy vs Scotland international on March 15th.

Two club members, Brian Samson and Alex Holmes, are looking to shift spare pairs of tickets for the game - give them a ring on 07816 916390 or 07957 650391, respectively, if you are interested. Or speak to Danger if you're after Holmesy's briefs.

Six Miles For Maggie's Centre (21/3/08)

Vari Clark - mother of Euan and Stuart - has been in touch to advise that she and some colleagues from the School are going to undertake a sponsored walk on Sunday 22nd June. The six mile walk, round Holyrood Park, is to raise funds for the Edinburgh Maggie's Cancer Care Centre.

The attached Word document contains full details of the walk. As you'll see, Vari is looking to enlist more walkers, either to do the six miles or to step up to twelve miles. The more walkers that sign up by the deadline of Wednesday 26th March, the better, as that will increase the amount of sponsorship money raised.

Alternatively, if you don't fancy taking part in the walk, you can sponsor those who are going to participate.

Vari will be at Inverleith tomorrow to take the names of anyone who fancies taking part in the walk. If you do wish to sign up, please bring along your entry money (either cash or cheques payable to 'ESMGC'). Vari will also have sponsorship forms with her.

For further information, you can email Vari on variclarkAThotmailDOTcom or sclarkvATesmgcDOTcom (replace text in bold with appropriate symbols).

As a Club, let's get right behind this most worthwhile of causes!

Bill

Rugby Club Dinner 2008 (22/3/08)

The Stewart’s Melville FP RFC Annual Dinner will be held this year on Saturday 12th April in the Clubhouse at Inverleith (7 pm for 7.30 pm).

The cost of the Dinner will be £25 per ticket.

I am delighted that our own Ben Leathes will propose the toast to the guests and that Willie Hunter, the well known Watsonian, solicitor and after dinner speaker, will reply on behalf of the guests.

We still have some tickets available for the Sportsman's Dinner at Inverleith on 17th May. These are priced at £35 each. Please contact me as soon as possible if you would like to join us for what is sure to be another superb night at the Club.

Please also get in touch if you can help out with auction or raffle prizes.

This is one of the Club's major fundraising events, so please do everything you can to support it.

Andrew Hannay