Diary of Days of Scotland in St Petersburg 2009

There were 27 in the group which travelled to St Petersburg for the annual ‘Days of Scotland in St Petersburg’ in the ‘Year of the Homecoming’

Elizabeth & Tom Clark

May McMaster

Helen Morrison

Hannah McIntyre

John & Rita Montgomery

Nellie Waddell

Anne Fawbert

Jimmy & Mary Law

Kay Blair

Pat Kramek

Ian Hardin

Karen Stokes

Sheena Cairns

Olga Clyde

Jacqueline Goode

Tom & Luidmilla Johnstone

and from Reid Kerr College, Paisley

John & Irene Baird

Peter Pringle

Robert Muir

Sean O’Hagan

Gavin Edwards

Stewart Anderson

The group left a cold windy Glasgow airport at 6am on Saturday 31^st January and arrived in St Petersburg at 5pm (a 3 hour time difference). We were met by our friends and colleagues of many years standing and taken by coach to the Moskva Hotel situated in Alexander Nevsky Square. Snow had arrived the day before so the city was looking its winter best.

Sunday 1^st February

At 9.30 we met our guide and friend Freda Zietseva who took us on a tour of the city and Freda, as usual, astounded us with new and interesting facts about the sights. After various photo stops we arrived for lunch at the Literaturnoye Café made famous because of its association with Russian’s Bard Alexander Pushkin. Kay realised an ambition by singing a Burns song in Pushkin’s cafe accompanied by Tom on the piano.

We were already running late when we arrived at School 157 where the contestants for the ‘Knowledge of Scotland Competition were waiting to make their presentations. The members of the board of Judges – Elizabeth, Tom, Helen, and & Jimmy – interviewed to students before the competition began. As usual the standard of presentation was high. Each of the 10 finalists made a five minute presentation from a list of topics about Scotland. This year’s winners were

1^st Elizaveta Koxunova School 207 (Christmas & New Year traditions in Scotland) 2^nd Veronika Schevelova School 606 with the same topic and

3^rd Victor Zheltyannikov School 634 (Stone of Destiny)

British Consul General William Elliott performed the award ceremony and the winners will visit Scotland in the autumn as guests of the Forum.

The awards were also made to the Burns Essay winners. The topic for this years essay was ‘Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot’ and the winners were

1^st Seraphima Nechaeva School 61

2^nd Ksenia Kurbatova School 349

3^rd Ekaterina Chizhikova School 61

The Essay winner Seraphima recited her excellent work to an enthralled audience.

From School 157 it was just a short walk to the British Consulate where Consul General William Elliott hosted a party for the Scottish visitors, the Alumni and friends of St Petersburg Forum. This was a wonderful evening when we met up with all the young people who have been our guests in Scotland and the party allows them to communicate with one another. There have now been 38 students over a period of 12 years so the age range is wide.

It was the first opportunity for the Reid Kerr students to visit the Consulate Kitchen where they would prepare a dinner later in the trip.

Consul General William was presented with a Burns Commemorative medal by Helen & Nellie, marking the

‘Year of the Homecoming’.

Monday 2^nd February

The group visited one of the orphanages supported by the Forum. The children had prepared a concert for us and we were shown some of the equipment which the Forum had funded – a tonometer and a refurbished kitchen.

Visiting the children is a humbling and harrowing experience.

After a tasty lunch at the ‘Academia’ restaurant we made our way to the ‘Official Opening of the Days of Scotland’ and the final of the Forums three Competitions – the Art Competition in the Russian State Library exhibition hall.

There had been 150 entrants and our Russian art partners had whittled the entrants down to 50 – still a big task for May & Pat.

The subject matter was ‘Auld Lang Syne’, Address to Edinburgh’ and My Hearts in the Highlands’ chosen to mark the Year of the Homecoming.

The winners were:-1^st Artem Urvantsev – aged 14

2^nd Anastasia Danilova aged 17 Pat Kramek Award

and 3^rd Anastasia Shipitsina aged 14

The opening ceremony and the art exhibition and competition receive lots of media attention and you need to be quick to avoid a TV interview!!

Nellie presented the Library with a 100 year old book of the songs & music of Robert Burns and Anne presented a new illustrated Burns book by Colin Hunter McQueen from Margaret Kane, President of Greenock Burns Club.

The highlight of the evening was the Burns Supper for 210 people in the Moskva Hotel! The meal was prepared by Robert Muir and his students from Reid Kerr – Sean, Gavin & Stewart and served by students from the catering College in St Petersburg where Reid Kerr have now established firm links. The meal was prepared in the kitchens two floors up and had to be brought to the hall by elevator – only hotel staff were allowed to operate the elevators!.

The evening was chaired by Tom under the glare of spot lights!

The Grace was given in English by Peter and in Russian by Prof Leonid Seleznev, the Haggis was piped in by piper Tom Johnstone, the address to the Haggis was given by John Baird and Nellie Waddell, the Immortal Memory to Robert Burns was by Jimmy Law, the toast to the lassies by Ian Hardin (from USA) and the reply was in song by Olesya Matakova. Many of our young students entertained us during the meal.

The Supper was rounded off by the joint Scottish & Russian ‘choirs’ singing Katyusha and Auld Lang Syne.

The after supper party on the landing was a noisy affair and pipe playing and dancing at midnight was frowned upon by the hotel security!

Tuesday 3^rd February

The group visited Petrovsky College where Reid Kerr now has a strong working relationship. Senior management from the College have visited Reid Kerr and 6 students will also visit in September.

The staff and students made presentations about the history and work of Petrovsky and then the group were taken on tours – the ladies choosing to visit the hairdressing department but unfortunately they weren’t offering free hairdos!

After lunch at the College the students entertained us with a concert of song, dance and music.

In the afternoon the group were free to choose their own activity and some chose to go to the Hermitage, to the velodrome, shopping and others back to the hotel for some rest!

A highlight of the visit was the evening outing to the famous Marinsky Theatre to see Swan Lake and to hear Tchaikovsky’s music. The performance was quite outstanding and we were left awed by the skill, athletic ability and dedication of the dancers.

Wednesday 4^th February

The weather was excellent during the whole trip. Dry and sunny but cold with plenty of snow & frozen rivers to satisfy the photographers in the group! We headed out in to the country to Pushkin town where we visited Pavlovsk Palace the construction of which was started two centuries earlier by Scottish architect Charles Cameron. The Palace was given by Catherine 11 to Paul 1, her son & heir. During the 2^nd world war the Palace suffered tremendous damage by the Nazis. Fortunately 90% of the treasures from the Palace had been taken to Leningrad before the Germans arrived and during the last 60 years the building and its interior have been restored to its original glory.

Unfortunately we were not invited to dine in the magnificent dining room!!

School 606 in Pushkin town has always taken part on our competitions and this year the 2^nd placed young lady in the ‘Knowledge of Scotland’ competition studies at this school. When we arrived at the school we were all very aware of the preparation by students and staff for our visit. The senior pupils gave a presentation about their school and about their famous poet Pushkin for whom the town is named.

After lunch we were once again entertained by very talented students with songs and dancing.

In the afternoon we headed back into the City to the Yusupov Palace, where our wonderful guide Freda explained about the killing of Rasputin in the Palace – he was poisoned, shot and eventually drowned by his assassins.

The Yusupov family were extremely powerful and wealthy and the small private theatre is breath taking in its lavish architecture and decoration.

In the evening members of the group were invited to homes for dinner. Robert Muir and students, Stewart, Gavin & Sean prepared a meal for associates of Reid Kerr College and their guests in the British Consulate. The hosts for the evening were Consul General William Elliott and his wife Daria.

Thursday 5^th February

We decided to cancel a sight seeing trip to the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of the city and to make our departure from the hotel an hour later than originally planned – this was most welcome!!

When all of the luggage was packed in the coach the group were taken to the House of Friendship – the headquarters of our partners in St Petersburg, the Association for International Cooperation chaired by Margarita Mudrak. Margarita had arranged for a high profile representative from all our areas of interest to make a final presentation to the group – schools, art, colleges, orphanages etc and after the Scottish contingent responded and gifts were exchanged we were treated to a delicious lunch before finally boarding the coach for our journey to the airport.

It is difficult to explain to newcomers to the trip that their cases will probably be heavier on the way home due to the many gifts they will receive. John Baird had his boarding pass withheld until the (Russian) KLM check in girl worked out that the total weight for the entire group of 27 did not exceed the baggage allowance!! It is probably as well that she didn’t weigh the hand luggage which in many cases was nearly as heavy as the checked in luggage!!

Our flights back to Glasgow were trouble free and an exhausted group arrived home with all luggage intact.