We turned up at the Rotunda at Bannockburn on the 24th June on the second day of the battle for our commemoration in glorious sunshine.

A big thank you goes out To Ted (better than Elvis) Christopher for organising the event, and Ted opened the proceedings with 'Scottish Dawn' which is about the Battle itself, following a few tunes from our piper. We then moved on with our first speaker of the day, our very own George Kempick, Secretary of the Society, who gave an outstanding speech on the battle, what history means to the people of Scotland and the reasons why the Society and also the Guardians of Scotland are apolitical.

Ted then sang another song called 'We Are', of which the main chorus is derived from a speech that the late David R Ross gave in St Bartholomews Church at the Walk for Wallace commemoration in 2005, a wee tear in my eye to that song I'm not ashamed to say. Next up was (unfortunately for the people of Stirling) their ex-MP Steven Paterson who said a few words about the battle and what the battle means to the people of Stirling. "Fat Duncan", from the Strathleven Artisans, said a few words and then the next speaker was Gary Stewart, Convenor of the Society of William Wallace, who spoke about how history changes people and that countries are exactly the same; if you don't learn from your mistakes, how are you supposed to avoid repeating them, and that's exactly why the history of the country is massively important.

The wreaths were then laid. Ken Shirra of the Knight Templars was last speaker up and we finished off with a prayer before Ted sung us out with 'Scots Wha Hae'.

Thanking everyone who attended what is a special day in the Scottish History calendar and hopefully see you all again next year.

Yours Aye
Gary Stewart
Convenor