Border Telegraph | News | John is a Burns Supper saviour

Monday, 8th September, 2008

Published: Wednesday, 25th January, 2006 10:00

John is a Burns Supper saviour

By Border Telegraph Newsroom

A SELKIRK butcher has saved the day for hundreds of Burns’ fans on a remote island in the North Sea.

John Nairn answered an SOS (Save our Suppers) from hungry for haggis islanders on Whalsay – half-an-hour’s boat ride from the Shetland mainland.

The little fishing communities dotted around the five-mile long island had suffered the pre-packed variety of our national dish for too long.

And local Burns’ Supper organizers were desperate for the real thing.

John, who owns and runs T Kerr & Sons Butchers, sent up almost 50 kg of his award-winning haggis last week.

And the dish has proved so popular, another 50kg shipment left on Monday to arrive in time for Burns’ Night bashes.

John told the Border Telegraph: “My daughter, Julie, teaches on Whalsay. She must have mentioned to someone that her dad was a butcher, and the lady from the island’s shop asked if it would be possible for some real haggis to be sent up.

“A box of haggis arrived last week, and it had sold out before the shop closed that day.

“We get orders from all over the UK at this time of year, although this is one is certainly one of the furthest away. I’m pleased they all seem to be enjoying haggis made down here in Selkirk.”

Known as the Bonnie Isle, Whalsay is most famous for inspiring another Scots poet, Hugh MacDiarmid, and housing the UK’s most northerly golf course.

The hardened islanders had survived for centuries on a staple diet of fish.

But its current population of just over 1000 desired the dish of our national bard.

Iris Anderson runs the island shop in the village of Symbister. She told us: “We had managed in the past to get pre-packed haggis, but nobody really liked it. It wasn’t very good. We have plenty of turnips and potatoes but struggled to find freshly made haggis.

“We got in touch with Mr Nairn, who kindly agreed to post some of his own haggis up to us. I put 70 of them out last Thursday morning and they had all gone by tea-time when we closed.

“There is another shipment arriving this week from Selkirk – there will probably be a queue. We’ll all have to learn the Selkirk Grace.”

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