Society of St Andrew of Scotland (Qld) Limited

Another very successful St Andrew’s day Dinner was held at Brisbane’s Carlton Crest Hotel on Friday Night, 1st December 2006. The Dinner clashed with a number of other functions which may have contributed to the attendance being slightly down, but there was no drop in the enthusiasm of those in attendance. The guest speaker was The Honourable Justice Jeffrey Spender of The Federal Court of Australia, who presented a very well crafted speech which was witty, informative and very entertaining. Judge Spender posed a twist on the age old question; “How can a Spender be a Scot?” His explanation of the Scottish legal system (which differs from the English Common Law system) was very informative and of great interest.

His Honour’s speech was most warmly received by all in attendance and is reproduced in this edition of Albannaich Queensland for the benefit of those who were unfortunate enough to be unable to attend on the evening. The Society thanks Judge Spender for his time and wonderful presentation. A number of years ago, the State Governor of the day, Maj. Gen. Peter Arnison, stated that our dinner had the best age demographics of any function which he had attended as Governor and it was satisfying to see this tradition maintained. The Worrell family was a fine example of this with three generations in attendance. The pipers of the Society were in fine tune as were the voices of all those present, as they joined in the community singing of traditional Scottish songs. The 2007 St Andrew’s Day Dinner to be held Friday 30th November will celebrate our 60th Anniversary, so place that night in your diary and start planning now.