2014 Budapest Burns Supper

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The Grand Ballroom of the Corinthia Hotel Budapest was once again the venue for the 17th Annual Budapest Burns Supper on 25 January 2014.

More than 280 guests filled the ballroom for an evening that was packed with entertainment, fine food, fine wines, and of course, fine whiskies.

The great mix of corporate tables and groups of friends were able to enjoy live pipe band music featuring world champion musicians, the traditional Address to the Haggis by Rab Tait, lead piper, a hip-hop performance by children representing the 2nd Department of Paediatrics in Tűzoltó utca, and a Scottish country dancing display.

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The chef at the Corinthia Hotel put together a superb menu including haggis flown in fresh from Inverness, Scotland, and cheese sourced by I.J. Mellis in Edinburgh. The veal with foie gras and scallops was a particular favourite!

A night of Scottish culture and entertainment would not be complete without suitable refreshments, and we were fortunate to enjoy the ongoing support of Heineken, Johnnie Walker, Glenfarclas, and WhiskyNet, who manned the whisky-tasting bar again with a selection of malts from all round Scotland, while Vargabor and Hangácsi és Fia provided top-quality wines to accompany the meal.

One highlight of the evening was Julie Greer, a Scottish singer, who sang two beautiful songs by Robert Burns acapella for the guests, while it was an honour for the Robert Burns International Foundation to have Mrs Ferenc Puskás as a guest, and she presented a replica of the Puskás Ferenc – Sir Alex Ferguson Trophy to the RBIF’s Sponsor of the Year, the Corinthia Hotel, represented by General Manager Thomas Fischer. The actual trophy, currently on display at the Hungarian Embassy in London, will be presented by the RBIF’s Honorary President Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, Manchester on 9 February 2014.

The raffle prizes (first prize: two tickets with Turkish Airlines anywhere in the world) and the auction items were very popular, raising over 5 million HUF on the night, a fantastic achievement, and this money will be used over the year to sponsor the projects designated by the Foundation.

As ever we are grateful to all our sponsors who make this event possible.DSC_4583

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 Main Sponsors

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Glenfarclas WhiskyNET Heineken Varga Corinthia Hotel Budapest Sailing Pass Johnnie Walker

2013 Budapest Burns Supper

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The 16th Annual Budapest Burns Supper in 2013 was held in the stunning ballroom of the Corinthia Hotel, Budapest, on 26th January 2013.

The almost 240 guests were treated to a splendid 5-course dinner worthy of the 5-star hotel, complete with beer sponsored by Heineken, wines sponsored by Varga Pincészet and Hangácsi és Fia, as well as whiskies sponsored by Diageo (Johnnie Walker) and WhiskyNet.

The 8 pipers and drummers flown in specially from Scotland provided the musical entertainment along with two opera singers, Szilvia Vörös and Csaba Gaál, who performed a Mozart duet on the gallery of the ballroom, and not to mention Dagda, our resident Scottish folk music band who have supported the Budapest Burns Suppers for many years.

Thanks to the generous donations of all those present the raffle and auction raised the princely sum of HUF 5 million or €17,000 for the Foundation and its projects, and so a big thank you to all those who continue to support the work of the RBIF in Hungary.

You can find a selection of photos from the evening under our Gallery page.

Burns in Budapest

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Family dare leads to children’s charity

Join us on a journey through the misty veil of history deep into the folklore that surrounds the annual celebration of a Scottish birthday in Hungary…

It seems an odd beginning, but the Budapest Burns Supper started in 1997 with a family challenge, when a relative of Jock MacKenzie’s Hungarian wife Nellie suggested the Scotsman organise a party in honour of his country’s national poet.

MacKenzie is honest enough to admit he had no idea back then what a Burns Supper might entail. “Although I was born in the north of Scotland, the family had moved by the time I was three or four, so I was never really brought up with it; I was raised and educated in the South.” By “the South” he means England.

It was while researching Burns traditions that MacKenzie met someone who was to play a huge part in his life, and that of the Budapest Burns Supper; Zoltán Magyar, the chairman of the Hungarian-Scottish Society.

Magyar loved the idea of a Burns evening, and a plan was soon hatched to find a handful of Scottish expats and do “something small” in the countryside in January 1998. “I was going to provide a sheep and some whisky, Zoli a pig and the pálinka,” MacKenzie recalls. But even then, the Burns Supper had a will of its own. “Within three months, it had escalated to an event for 300 people in its first year,” MacKenzie says.

Letters of support were received from the office of the then President of Hungary, Árpád Göncz, and the Prime Minister. The British and Canadian Ambassadors attended. The Trade Unions’ Congress Hall provided the venue. Tickets, MacKenzie says, cost around HUF 2,000, but that was still enough to generate a surplus of HUF 150,000, which no one seemed quite certain what to do with.

Nellie MacKenzie was a teacher working with seriously handicapped children; she knew first hand that Hungarian healthcare was – and sadly still is – in great need of financial support. She began to ask around her colleagues for a worthy beneficiary. “Three or four weeks later, all the contacts were coming back pointing to Prof. György Fekete at SOTE II,” MacKenzie says. Another piece of what makes today’s Burns event had fallen into place.

He went to meet the good doctor at the Second Department of Paediatrics at Semmelweis University of Medicine to hand over the cash, and what he saw changed his life. It is still, he says, the thing that drives his passion to raise ever more money. Fekete showed him round a clinic were the obvious love and care of the staff was coupled to crumbling infrastructure and ancient equipment. “He took me to the second operating theatre, opened the door and a cloud of dust blew up. Once it had settled, and we could see again, it was like walking into a Dickensian surgery.”

With haggis from Cockburns of Dingwall (who supplied the late Queen Mother), and cheese from Orkney by Inverness Farmers Dairy (both still supply the event, with DHL transporting the goods free of charge), the first supper, called the Burns Overnight, had laid a basis; the second event, in 1999, would set the pattern. Ticket prices went up, but so did the level of entertainment. Overheads were to be avoided (the evening, indeed the Robert Burns International Foundation itself, is still overhead free), and there was to be a fundraising target: HUF 6 mln for a modern operating table for that unused, unusable theatre. MacKenzie laughs at the audacity of it now, but the table was brought out to Hungary and put on display during the evening.

“I remember we had some difficulty bringing it in, a deposit had to be paid, but somebody came to our rescue, as they generally do.” By the end of the evening, this time held in Hűvösvölgyi Vigadó, enough had been pledged to ensure the table could find its new home.

Now established as an annual event, the charity fundraiser continued to grow.

“There were key points when it jumped a level. One was when Mark Muss took over as Chairman for the evening in 2000; there’s no doubt he took us onto a new plain. A second was when Adrian Gray (General Manager of Le Meridien) got involved. His relationship with Adrian Ellis (GM of the Corinthia) moved us from a three-star operation to a five-star operation, and not just in terms of location. Another came when Stuart McAlister succeed Mark as chairman of the Burns Supper in 2004.”

The Robert Burns International Foundation – with Zoli Magyar as founder and Steve Jones, after many years helping the Burns Suppers, appointed General Secretary – was born out of a desire to put the fundraising on a more professional, transparent basis that was sustainable. It took over organisation of the Burns Supper. The joint patrons are the British Ambassador in Hungary and the Hungarian Ambassador in London. The Deputy Head of the UK Mission has a permanent seat on the Curatorium that runs the foundation.

Sir Alex Ferguson was appointed as the Honorary President and for five years has presented the annual Ferenc Puskás – Sir Alex Ferguson Sponsor of the Year Trophy.

The large scale Budapest Burns Supper also supports the “Small Burns Supper” held in and with the support of the Scottish Mission. Staged a few days later, it is supplied with the same food and drink and is designed to provide a more traditional supper; as it is not a fund raising event, ticket prices are kept much lower.

By Robin Marshall

Budapest Burns timeline.

1759 – Robert Burns born on 25 January in Alloway, South Ayrshire
1796 – Burns dies 21 July in Dumfries, age just 37
1998 – Burns Overnight, Trade Unions’ Congress Hall (MSzOSz), Budapest, the very first official Budapest Burns Supper
1999-2000 – Burns Supper at the Hűvösvölgyi Vigadó
2001 – Burns Supper at the Intercontinental Hotel
2002 – Burns Supper at the Marriott Hotel
2003 – to date – Burns Supper at the Corinthia Hotel Budapest
2002 – 5th anniversary
2005 – Robert Burns International Foundation founded
2007 – 10th anniversary
2017 – 20th anniversary

The Wee Burns

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Read more

2012 Budapest Burns Supper

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The 15th annual Budapest Burns Supper, held at the Corinthia Hotel Budapest on 28 January 2012, raised almost HUF 5 million for children’s hospitals in Hungary. The Robert Burns International Foundation, which organises the event and oversees distribution of the money, put the figure raised on the night at HUF 4.8 million.

 

“Each year the Foundation aims to support five hospital projects each with HUF 1 million from the Burns Supper itself, which we will be able to do as we have a surplus in hand from previous years.”

The Burns Supper is a traditional Caledonian event staged in Scottish communities across the world, which recalls the words and deeds of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. A key part is the Immortal Memory, an address about the man, his humanity and his poetry. This year the Budapest Burns Supper broke somewhat with tradition, but surely in a way Burns himself, a lover of life and children, would have appreciated. So instead of fine words, there were three short musical performances, each given by a young child who had recovered from serious illness thanks, in part, to money raised by previous Budapest suppers.

Prof Dr György Fekete, the RBIF’s medical advisor, explained to the roughly 200 guests (who each made a donation of HUF 25,000 for their seat), exactly what a difference the fundraising event has made. “The first child was saved [using equipment bought with Burns Supper money] 15 years ago and is now 15 years old. I hope we can all be here together in the coming years and can celebrate the 30th anniversary, when this ‘child’ will be already 30 years old!”

He added that, “The charity of the Scottish community in Hungary has such a valuable impact even for the children themselves.” Parents, patients and hospital staff know and appreciate the generous fundraising of the Burns Supper, he said.

Fekete is the former Director of the II Paediatric Department of Semmelweis University in Budapest, which has received much support from the Burns Supper through the years. In his role as medical adviser to the RBIF, he helps sift through the many hospital applications for support to find and select the most appropriate and deserving projects.

Jock MacKenzie, who chairs the curatorium that oversees the RBIF’s activities, spoke of his surprise and pride that the Supper had been running for 15 years, and thanked guests for their continued support, both for it and the children they helped treat. “I’d simply like to say thank you for coming, and for keeping coming,” he said.

2011 Budapest Burns Supper

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The 14th annual Budapest Burns Supper, held at the Corinthia Hotel Budapest on Saturday 29 January 2011, hit its charity fund raising target.

The evening, held in honour of Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, has become a major event in the Budapest social calendar, and has raised hundreds of millions of forints for sick Hungarian children over the years. While full figures will take some time to confirm, Jock MacKenzie of the Robert Burns International Foundation was upbeat about the total.

“We can say that HUF 5.5 million net clear of all direct costs was raised on the night to help sick and underprivileged children,” he said after the black tie and Highland dress ball. That would put it on a par with last year’s event and, given the foundation’s zero overhead policy, all of that will go to worthy causes. “The net distributable sum is a very significant sum in present circumstances,” McKenzie added.

Guest of honour at the evening was Andy Roxburgh. A long-time friend of  Zoltán Magyar, the founder of the RBIF, Roxburgh has connections with the Budapest Burns Supper through another footballing name. Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United Football Club and the honorary president of the RBIF, has been a friend of Roxburgh since their playing days in the 1970s. Currently a UEFA Technical Director, Roxburgh played for a number of Scottish clubs, and successfully coached the juniors to the UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship in 1982. He is best known, however, for his seven-year period in charge of the national squad from 1986 to 1993.

The Burns Supper also saw the EUR 50,000 Marathon Effort For SOTE II officially closed by appeal chairman Patrick McMenamin of the Caledonia Bar. To do so, the final HUF 3 million had to be found, and that money is in addition to the HUF 5.5 million raised at the Supper. The appeal is paying for three parent and child suites for “distant trauma” patients coming into Budapest from the Hungarian countryside at the second department of paediatrics at SOTE University Hospital. The units are expected to come into use in February or March. The funds were raised through sponsorship of expats Simon Saunders and Harry Harron, who completed the Marathon des Sables, five and a half marathons in six days across the Sahara desert, in April 2010.

By: Robin Marshall, MBE

2010 Budapest Burns Supper

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The 13th annual Budapest Burns Supper, our charity fund raiser held at the Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal on Saturday 30 January 2010, raised “more than HUF 10 million” on the night.

The evening, held in honour of Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, has become a key event in the Budapest social calendar, and has raised thousands of millions of forints for sick Hungarian children over the years.

While full figures will take some time to arrive at, Jock MacKenzie, chairman of the Robert Burns International Foundation, which distributes the money, was upbeat about the total.

“We can say that Ft10 million was raised on the night, which we are very happy with, and more has been pledged since.”

A focus of this year’s supper was getting people to donate 1% of their personal income tax to the RBIF, at no extra cost as the Hungarian government agrees to give up the money from its tax take, provided a nomination is made.

Stuart McAlister, managing director of the Inter Relocation Group, and chairman of the Burns Supper organising committee, said that the RBIF had received HUF 1 million forints last year “without really trying,” and was hoping to raise awareness both of the scheme itself, and the Foundation’s ability to benefit from it. Adrian Gray, General Manager of Le Meridien Hotel Budapest, and a member of the Curatorium which runs the RBIF, said one idea being considered was to appoint a “1% Champion”.

Pictured from left to right, Zoltán Magyar, founder of the RBIF, president of the Hungarian Scottish Society, William John “Willie” McStay, the Scottish-born coach of Újpest FC, presenting the Ferenc Puskás – Sir Alex Ferguson trophy to Attila Erdei, Commercial Director for Diageo in Hungary and Croatia, Jock MacKenzie, Chairman of the Curatorium of the RBIF, and Stuart McAlister, Chairman of the Budapest Burns Supper Committee. (Photo by Tamás Rajna)

“We obviously want those who were there at the Supper to give their 1% to the Foundation, but we would also like the chief executives among them to encourage their employees who don’t yet make a donation to consider doing so to the RBIF,” Gray said.

Precise, up-to-date figures are not easy to find, but Mónika Keztyûs, a tax manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that the scheme covers all 3.5 million people who are liable to pay tax in Hungary. The amount raised in 2009, which was based on the 2008 tax returns, was put at HUF 9.4 billion (€34.8 million), she explained, split between 28,000 nominated charities and foundations.

The Burns Supper also saw the official launch, by British Ambassador Greg Dorey, of a €50,000 appeal for the second department of paediatrics at SOTE University Hospital, to build parent and child suites for “distant trauma” patients coming into Budapest from the Hungarian countryside, and possibly even abroad. The money is to be raised in large part by expats Simon Saunders and Harry Harron, who are competing in the Marathon des Sables in April. Billed as the toughest foot race on earth, it involves running five and a half marathons in six days across the Sahara desert.

For more information on their efforts, visit the team’s own blog.

2009 Budapest Burns Supper

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Around 250 guests, a mixture of expats and Hungarians, attended the 12th annual Budapest Burns Supper at the Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal on Saturday, 24 January 2009. The traditional Scottish event marks the birth, life and work of Rabbie (Robert) Burns, who would have been 250 this year, and has become known as the national bard of Scotland.

Jock MacKenzie of the Hungarian-Scottish Society said event, “cleared HUF 7 million for charity, which was tremendous success given the current economic climate”. The funds will go towards helping local children in need.

Event chairman, Stuart McAlister, believes the Supper remains popular for a number of reasons, not least the “spectacle, the combination of a formal dinner with the relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere that a Burns Supper creates”.

Entertainment on the night included the Robert Burns International Foundation drum and pipe band, a group of past and present world champion drummers and pipers from two or three bands who come together each year to fly out to Budapest and play at this event.

There were also dancers from the SOTE clinic, all children who have been treated at one of the hospitals supported by the Supper, as well as a Scottish dance group, the Dagda ceilidh band, Scottish dancing for the guests, led by Debbie Moss, whisky tasting sponsored by Diageo and the Dreher Burns Bar.

By Robin Marshall MBE

2008 Budapest Burns Supper

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The annual charity fundraising Budapest Burns Supper looks on target to have raised HUF 14 million (almost $80,000 at January 2008 exchange rates) this year, a record for the night according to Jock MacKenzie, chairman of the Robert Burns International Foundation.

The Burns Supper is a traditional event marking the birth of Rabbie (Robert) Burns, the national bard of Scotland. The super on Saturday, 26 January 2008 was the 11th held in Budapest, and attracted the usual mix of Scottish expats and Hungarian and international friends of Scotland.

In recent years, the supper has become a celebration of the work done by the RBIF throughout the year – the foundation specialises in helping Hungarian children in need – though it remains an important fundraiser.

Last year’s 10th anniversary supper raised HUF 10 million ($57,000). Although this year’s figures have yet to be finalized, MacKenzie, speaking exclusively to The Budapest Sun, said he was “comfortable” with the figures and was certain last year’s total had been eclipsed.

The generous support of the Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal in keeping its prices “rock bottom” had ensured a profit was made on the tables, HUF 2 million ($11,400) was raised through the raffle and HUF 9 million ($51,400) through the silent and spoken auctions. The final total may yet go beyond HUF 14 million MacKenzie said. Included in it are strong pledges from companies for financial support.

“One of those is firm for HUF 3 million ($17,100), but it may yet become HUF 4 million ($22,800) or even HUF 5 million ($28,500)…. I’d like to thank all our sponsors, who have been even more generous this year, and our [organising] team for making all this happen so seamlessly, and achieving such a tremendous result.” The secret to the success, he believes, is keeping the evening a celebration and fun for all.

By Robin Marshall

2007 Budapest Burns Supper

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The annual Budapest Burns Supper, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, reached its fundraising target of HUF 10 million ($51,000 at January 2007 exchange rates) for the evening.

Event chairman Stuart McAlister told The Budapest Sun, “In recent years the Burns Supper has become a celebration of the ongoing work of the Robert Burns International Foundation.

“As such, we haven’t raised as much at the event itself as we have sometimes in the past, when the Burns Supper was the focal point for our charitable activities. Given that, the fact that we beat our target and raised more than HUF 10 million on the night [Saturday, January 27 2007] really was a very significant achievement.

“This was my sixth Burns Supper as a committee member. I do not remember there ever being such a buzz on the night, or as much positive feedback as I’ve received after the 2007 Supper.

“I’d like to pass on a huge thanks to all those sponsors, performers, hotel staff, press and the committee; without their support none of this would be possible,” he added.

By Robin Marshall