Christ Church of Longboat Key hosts Scottish dinner

At Christ Church of Longboat Key, dinner guests stepped through a forest door and into Scotland for an evening on Feb. 21. 

The church hosted 160 people for dinner, which included shepherd’s pie, and transformed the gathering hall into a Scottish site for the night. Attendees ate, drank and talked like Scotsmen with haggis, Scottish whiskey and classic poems from the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns. 

The Rev. Norman Pritchard, who is Scottish, read Burns’ “Address to a Haggis,” and diners could follow along with both the original Scottish writing or an English “translation.” Not everyone tried the haggis, but volunteers swooped around with platters so any who wanted some would not go without. 

After dinner, attendees heard bagpipes from the Jacobite Ceilidh Band from Sarasota and saw the talents of the Riverview High School Scottish dancers.