- Joined
- Oct 3, 2002
Piecing together what I remember and, admittedly, using the photos on my camera to fill in the gaps, here's what happened when me, Ned Kelly, IAteJamTarts, Gary Junior and our new mate Simon headed across to Sunny Leith on Saturday:
A day (and night) of Hibby excess started for NIH and Ned with an early doors trip to Mathers and the Cafe Royal - two truly cracking boozers.
IAte, Junior and Simon had been in Edinburgh the night before and met us in Cafe Royal for a couple and then it was off to Leith. As usual, the first sight of the top of Leith walk lifts the heart and before long we were installed in Tamsons.
Everyone except Simon (a Hibby for the day....or maybe more??) headed for the posh seats at ER and got a great welcome in the beautiful Edinburgh Lounge thanks to Willie McEwan of the Hibernian Former Players Association and his son David.
The drink was flowing, again thanks to the McEwans, and it was a lovely touch to have someone from Ladbrokes come along and take our bets. Sure, if we were going to hand all our money over to them it was nice to have service with a smile!
The seats we were given to watch the game gave a fantastic view although every time we heard the East Stand in full voice we did miss our 'home from home'!
(It has to be said that the whole Edinburgh Lounge set-up is pretty impressive although the stand misses the passion of the East Stand. The service is, on the whole, pretty slick although there did seem to be a number of bar staff who didn't have a clue what they were doing. Come on Hibs - why have a beautiful set-up like that and then cheap out on making sure bar staff are trained properly).
At half time we were given tea and pies to keep out the cold and had a chance to chat to some great folk like Boris and Maude from the Hibs Club.
The less said about the rest of the game the better. We were more than happy to get ourselves back into the bar at full-time for a few to steady the boat.
Hibernian FC Club Historian Tom Wright was good enough to organise a chance for us to present a cheque for 800 to Mr Eddie Turnbull. This money was raised at our Eddie Turnbull bash earlier in the year and was presented to be used by the Hibernian Former Players' Association as our tribute to Eddie.
The presentation was 'MCd' by Forth FM presenter Grant Stott and held in the Edinburgh Lounge.
A huge surprise and a massive honour was then played out on a blindsided and speechless NIH when a beautiful Belfast Crystal harp design bowl was presented to him by Eddie on behalf of NI Hibs as an appreciation gift.
The bowl is now sitting on my computer and I can say without a hint of exaggeration that it is one of my proudest possesions.
Thanks to Tom Wright, with David McEwan helping out as cameraman, the NI Hibs lads were introduced to a number of former players including Pat Stanton and Lawrie Reilly.
We also had a chance to catch up with Tommy Preston and Alan Gordon, which was a real treat. We'll be making a point of calling into Tommy's bar next time as we didn't get time at the weekend.
Next it was off to the Hibs Club, joined by Alan Gordon (line of the night went to IAte who joked with Alan that 'if you haven't got your membership card I'll sign you in!!!'
).
There it was great, as always, to bump into familiar faces like Ralph and Peter and well as the rest of the St. Paul's HSC lads. The St. Paul's boys were fantastic hosts and even gave a tie and a Hibs top to delighted IAte and Junior.
We also had chance to catch up with loads of old mates - too many to name for fear of forgetting someone - at the Bounce POTY. A great time was had by all, a couple of t-shirts were picked up in the raffle and, overall, the craic was brilliant.
An early 'cure' at the rugger bugger-style but ideal Murrayfield Hotel was well needed next morning and that's where Ned and me left the rest of the lads to it when we headed for the airport. I'm sure they boys have a couple of stories they could add about how they spent their Sunday afternoon??
Our very, very sincere thanks go to Willie and David McEwan, the St. Paul's lads, Gunner Hibby and the good friends old and new we met in the Hibs Club for a great weekend.
Hibernian Go Bragh,
NIH
A day (and night) of Hibby excess started for NIH and Ned with an early doors trip to Mathers and the Cafe Royal - two truly cracking boozers.
IAte, Junior and Simon had been in Edinburgh the night before and met us in Cafe Royal for a couple and then it was off to Leith. As usual, the first sight of the top of Leith walk lifts the heart and before long we were installed in Tamsons.
Everyone except Simon (a Hibby for the day....or maybe more??) headed for the posh seats at ER and got a great welcome in the beautiful Edinburgh Lounge thanks to Willie McEwan of the Hibernian Former Players Association and his son David.
The drink was flowing, again thanks to the McEwans, and it was a lovely touch to have someone from Ladbrokes come along and take our bets. Sure, if we were going to hand all our money over to them it was nice to have service with a smile!
The seats we were given to watch the game gave a fantastic view although every time we heard the East Stand in full voice we did miss our 'home from home'!
(It has to be said that the whole Edinburgh Lounge set-up is pretty impressive although the stand misses the passion of the East Stand. The service is, on the whole, pretty slick although there did seem to be a number of bar staff who didn't have a clue what they were doing. Come on Hibs - why have a beautiful set-up like that and then cheap out on making sure bar staff are trained properly).
At half time we were given tea and pies to keep out the cold and had a chance to chat to some great folk like Boris and Maude from the Hibs Club.
The less said about the rest of the game the better. We were more than happy to get ourselves back into the bar at full-time for a few to steady the boat.
Hibernian FC Club Historian Tom Wright was good enough to organise a chance for us to present a cheque for 800 to Mr Eddie Turnbull. This money was raised at our Eddie Turnbull bash earlier in the year and was presented to be used by the Hibernian Former Players' Association as our tribute to Eddie.
The presentation was 'MCd' by Forth FM presenter Grant Stott and held in the Edinburgh Lounge.
A huge surprise and a massive honour was then played out on a blindsided and speechless NIH when a beautiful Belfast Crystal harp design bowl was presented to him by Eddie on behalf of NI Hibs as an appreciation gift.
The bowl is now sitting on my computer and I can say without a hint of exaggeration that it is one of my proudest possesions.
Thanks to Tom Wright, with David McEwan helping out as cameraman, the NI Hibs lads were introduced to a number of former players including Pat Stanton and Lawrie Reilly.
We also had a chance to catch up with Tommy Preston and Alan Gordon, which was a real treat. We'll be making a point of calling into Tommy's bar next time as we didn't get time at the weekend.
Next it was off to the Hibs Club, joined by Alan Gordon (line of the night went to IAte who joked with Alan that 'if you haven't got your membership card I'll sign you in!!!'
).There it was great, as always, to bump into familiar faces like Ralph and Peter and well as the rest of the St. Paul's HSC lads. The St. Paul's boys were fantastic hosts and even gave a tie and a Hibs top to delighted IAte and Junior.
We also had chance to catch up with loads of old mates - too many to name for fear of forgetting someone - at the Bounce POTY. A great time was had by all, a couple of t-shirts were picked up in the raffle and, overall, the craic was brilliant.
An early 'cure' at the rugger bugger-style but ideal Murrayfield Hotel was well needed next morning and that's where Ned and me left the rest of the lads to it when we headed for the airport. I'm sure they boys have a couple of stories they could add about how they spent their Sunday afternoon??
Our very, very sincere thanks go to Willie and David McEwan, the St. Paul's lads, Gunner Hibby and the good friends old and new we met in the Hibs Club for a great weekend.
Hibernian Go Bragh,
NIH