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Your LOCAL Media since 1918! VOLUME 107: ISSUE 22
www.tofieldmerc.com
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Good crowd at Tofield Legion Robbie Burns celebration LORRAINE MCNEELY PHOTOS (L-R)
Cassandra Lundbek Staff Reporter
The Tofield Legion hosted their annual Robbie Burns celebration on Saturday, January 25, with a great turnout. “The Tofield Legion was vibrating with excitement as more than 60 people celebrated the Scottish bard, Robert (Robbie) Burns,” said Deb Shaw, Ways and Means Chair of the Tofield Legion. Burns was born January 25, 1759, and died in 1796. The first Robbie Burns supper was held in 1801 when friends gathered to remember him
and enjoyed themselves so much that they decided to do it again the following year. His first book of poetry was published in 1786, 10 years before his death. The celebration of his poetry has grown and is now held in over 100 countries. The most famous piece by Burns is Auld Lang Syne, and the most enjoyed is the Address to the Haggis. Haggis is a Scottish dish that is made of sheep’s organs, which includes the heart, liver, and lungs. These are mixed with onions, spices, and oatmeal, which is then encased in
the sheep’s stomach before being cooked. At that time, haggis was seen as an affordable and nourishing meal for the poor, as the sheep organs used were often thrown out. Legion president Paul Shaw recited the address after the haggis was carried into the room by Sergeant-at-Arms Chris Shaw, with piper Chris Warren playing the bagpipes. As is tradition, the haggis came in intact but left cut open as part of the address. The haggis was then toasted and returned to the kitchen. “Traditionally the haggis is served with tatties
SONYA MARTENS PHOTO
and neeps (potatoes and turnip) and dessert follows. We add roast beef so no one goes hungry,” Deb Shaw said. Originally expecting four Highland dancers,
HRA student injured in bus accident Kari Janzen Staff Reporter
Icy, windy, and snowy conditions caused a Holden Rural Academy (HRA) bus to end up in the ditch on Friday, Jan. 24. Alberta RCMP reported that Vegreville RCMP were on the scene of a single vehicle bus roll over in the early afternoon.
The accident caused serious injury to one student who went to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. The other student on board and the bus driver sustained minor injuries. HRA Transportation Director Hank Janzen said both students were back at school the following Monday.
The bus, one of HRA’s little busses able to transport up to 20 students, lost control at Highway 16 and Highway 857 near Vegreville. “This was due to very slippery road conditions combined with wind. The bus went into the ditch backwards and then tipped on the side, at about 1:15 p.m.,” Janzen said.
Janzen said there can be up to nine students on that afternoon route, which takes the senior high students to their work placements, part of the public charter school’s mission to provide Place-Based Education. The other students on board the bus that day had already been dropped off in Vegreville.
organizers were overjoyed when 11 Highland dancers from the McKinnon School of Dance performed several different dances, culminating in a mass Highland Fling.
Shaw extended her appreciation to the community for their support and hopes to see everyone at the St. Patrick’s Day dinner in March.
KARI JANZEN PHOTO
Janzen said the bus is slightly damaged and that the school is planning to repair the bus. “There is some damage
to the front driver’s side fender, the driver side door, and one of the clearance lights was broken off,” he said.