Remembrance Sunday service at Haymarket.

Chairman Alex Gowans laid a wreath on behalf of The Shareholders' Association at the Hearts War Memorial at The Haymarket at a very moving Remembrance Service on Sunday 9 November 2008.

23rd May 2008: Race Night at the Prison Officers’ Club, Longstone Road, Edinburgh.

Race Night 2, another runaway success...

The Association’s final social event of the 2007/08 season was our second Race Night on Friday 23 May 2008. Once again it took place at The Prison Officers’ Club, Longstone Road, Edinburgh and was another runaway success. All one-hundred-and-twenty tickets were sold and there was a great atmosphere inside the function room from early on as people began arriving even before the official start time of 7 PM to ensure they got the best seats to watch the races.

Compere Paul Hunter made sure the proceedings ran smoothly, even if not all of the horses did. The eight races produced a lot of excitement as the punters cheered on their favourites, especially in the final race which was the most valuable as each of the runners had been auctioned. There was not sufficient room for the winning syndicate to do a lap of honour after their horse crossed the finishing line and they had be content with jumping up and down on the spot as they celebrated their triumph.

The excitement of the races and urging their horses on gave everyone an appetite and the excellent buffet soon disappeared almost as quickly as it was put down. The buffet was prepared by Linda Aitken of Aitken’s Catering who also designed and printed the race cards through StageQuest (that is spelt S-T-A-G-E-Q-U-E-S-T). Later there was a disco dee-jayed by ‘Disco Dad’ Ian Riddle who played music to suit all tastes (except The Proclaimers!).

After all costs were deducted, the Race Night raised the fantastic sum of £1,400 which will be added to the amount to be donated to good causes associated with Hearts to be decided at The Association’s next Annual General Meeting in January 2009.

The Association would like to thank everyone who took part in the Race Night, particularly the individual race sponsors: CFS Cleaning Services, City Glass, member Stevie Colquhoun, J McNeill Contracts, Principal & Prosper Independent Financial Advisers, StageQuest and Union Motor Company and of course members and guests who came along to support the event. Not forgetting everyone who very generously donated many of the prizes for the various raffles, especially the Wright family who very kindly handed in many items.

A special vote of thanks is due to Liz Riddle and the bar staff Sandra, Lorraine and Diane who worked very hard as did photographer Derek Thomson who took pictures throughout the evening.

That is it for another season…..see you again soon at our first meeting on 28 August 2008.