Graces
Graces before the Annual Dinner each year, composed and said by the Hon. Chaplain, The Rev. Charles Robertson
Friday 5 September 2008
Our dinner is made, the table is laid,
the bottles are ready to pour;
our appetites’ keen, the deacon’s serene -
could anyone ask for more?
The company’s choice, let all then rejoice
and offer to God thanks and praise;
to dine in this style is to make life worthwhile:
till the next one we’re counting the days!
Friday 11 September 2009
Bless our wine and bless our food,
keep us in a pleasant mood;
bless the chef and all who serve us,
from indigestion, Lord, preserve us.
Friday 10 September 2010
We thank thee for a guid Scots bonnet
when hair is sparse or heads are bald;
weel worthy is it of a sonnet
when days are dreich and it’s gey cauld.
We thank thee too for this rich banquet
of meat tae eat and wine tae sup:
let Dyers say,’ The Lord be thankit!’
and Bonnetmakers back them up.
Friday 9 September 2011
For bonnets and caps and for gorgeous chapeaux,
and fabrics bright-coloured with hues all aglow;
for food so delicious that none could forgo,
and vibrant red wine that we get from Bordeaux:
we thank the good Lord, from whom all blessings flow -
and hope that this ditty is quite apropos.
Friday 14 September 2012
For food and for liquor of every kind,
for blessings too many to call now to mind,
for bonnets with fabrics and dyes well designed:
we praise God our Father with joy unconfined.
Our Deacon, Rosemary, we can’t leave behind,
her chapeau’s so chic and her presence refined,
to give thanks for her we are all well inclined:
we’re glad to be with her, to be wined and dined.
Friday 13 September 2013
Let Bonnetmakers magnify the Lord,
and Dyers, too, join in, with glad accord;
give praise and thanks for this delicious dinner,
each bite a joy, each sip a wondrous winner.
Give thanks when days are cauld and winds are snell
and all the people’s noses froze as well,
that there is nothing better than a bonnet
to keep the heid and any hair that’s on it.
Friday 5 September 2014
Bonnetmakers and Dyers are now met to dine
on food that is scrumptious and wine that is fine;
the tables are ready, there’s nothing we lack -
we just wait the word of our Deacon Tom Packe.
And when he says ‘Go!’ we will eat with a will,
for we’ve palates to tickle and stomachs to fill;
so thank the good Lord who makes blessings abound,
and make sure that the bottles keep going around!
Friday 18 September 2015
Give thanks to the Lord who provides all we lack;
give thanks for our deacon, the doughty Tom Packe;
give thanks for our clerk, he’s our treasurer too -
without Gordon Wylie what would we all do?
Give thanks that we each have a bonnet to wear -
some ancient, some modern, but all debonair.
And last but not least, let all saints and sinners
give high, heartfelt thanks for this best of all dinners.
Friday 9 September 2016
Come, all you Bonnetmakers, and come, you Dyers all,
give thanks to God almighty for our yearly festival
of happy fun and laughter, good cheer and lively chat,
and everybody wearing a Fan-Dabi-Dozi hat.
God bless our Deacon, Andrew, and our truly Wylie Clerk;
and bless to us this dinner on which we now embark.
Friday 12 September 2017
(The ‘Amen’ for this Grace is slightly unusual. It needs you to have your hat in one hand and a glass in the other ready to be filled. In fact, it’s not an ‘Amen’ at all - as you will see!)
Come, all you Bonnetmakers, and Dyers, too, join in;
unite with silence-breakers to make a merry din
as you give God the glory for all things bright and good,
for hats both new and hoary, for life and love and food.
God bless our Deacon Andrew, his Clerk and all his Court:
to do the good they can do they need God’s kind support.
They also need our backing: so raise your chic chapeau,
and give, with zeal not lacking, three cheers in rich bordeaux!
Hip hip, hooray . . . (thrice)
Friday 7 September 2018
(For our Grace this evening, please be ready to doff your bonnet (if you can) when we reach the fifth line of the verse)
For hats with brims and caps with frills,
for bonnets dyed in every hue,
for ribbons bright and feathered quills,
for long-lived styles and fashions new -
to God on high our hats we raise
and offer him our thanks and praise,
and bless him for this lovely dinner,
each bite, each sup, a tasty winner.
Friday 6 September 2019
Come all you Bonnetmakers, and come you Dyers too,
with hats designed and modelled in every style and hue;
and praise the Lord of heaven, crown him with many crowns;
enjoy the life he gives you: it has more ups than downs.
Give thanks for Joan our Deacon, who’s served us very well;
for Gordon too, whose clerking works like a magic spell;
and bless the Lord the giver of gifts on plate, in glass;
make this a happy evening that nothing can surpass.
Friday 3 September 2021
(The Incorporation of Bonnetmakers and Dyers is often shortened to ‘B & D’)
Come now all you people who sit round these tables
and thank the good Lord with a heart that’s carefree,
for food and for wine and for friendship and laughter,
and all the craft skills of our Guild B and D.
Give praise to our Court for the work it enables,
our Deacon, Boxmaster, and Secre-tar-ee,
our Clerk, and our members with hats braw and bonny -
all guard the success of our Guild B and D.
And pray that when Covid at last is defeated
our lives without masks all untrammelled will be,
and we with fresh vim and renewed dedication
will further the fame of our Guild B and D.
(May be sung to the tune of ‘The Road and Miles to Dundee’)
Friday 2 September 2022
Hullo and Good Evening! Pray, doff your braw bonnets,
it's time to say Grace before dinner begins;
but please don't expect the sublimest of sonnets
in tune with the strumming of soft mandolins.
Instead, raise your hearts high in praise and thanksgiving
to God the creator and giver of all;
and ask for his blessing on all that is living,
the bright and the beautiful, great and the small.
A benison too on our Court and our Deacon,
and also on us and on all that we do;
and long may our Guild brightly shine as a beacon
of virtues and values trustworthy and true.
Friday 1 September 2023
For getting ahead by acquiring a hat,
perhaps with a ribbon or bow,
we thank the good Lord with our hands on our heart
and are glad he ordained it just so.
And so when together we come as a Guild,
as we do for our dinner tonight,
our spirits are high, as though three times distilled,
our chapeaux a perfect delight.
A benison, Lord, we ask on our meal,
on Deacon, on Clerk, and on Scribe;
and since Grace should be short and not a long spiel,
bless us all as we eat and imbibe.