Last night I was honoured to attend the reception hosted by the Consul General of Russia in Scotland, Andrey Pritsepov, on board the Royal Yacht Britannia, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first Arctic Convoy, Dervish. Surviving veterans and recipients of the Ushakov medal, Russia’s highest naval award, were guests of honour.
I have very few names to add to the below description, my apologies for that, but it in no way detracted from the evening’s success. Also, the pictures are very shaky, due to the lighting conditions, but they are of the moment.
We were welcomed on board by a pipe band and highland dancers. The veterans were brought to the yacht from the West End in buses, whose destination boards on the front read Murmansk and Arkangel. I wish I had been able to take a picture of that, it brought a lump to the throat immediately. The Consul General introduced the evening, once the Russian Consulate staff had made sure that all the veterans present were seated up front, ejecting some other folk to achieve this.
The CG read an address by the minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation, Mr Sergey Lavrov,
A Russian violinist, who is Professor at the Conservatoire here, then played some Russian and Scottish airs, along with an accordionist whose grandfather was on the convoys.
Then Ken McIntosh, Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, spoke, highlighting the relationship between the two countries at that time.
A veteran of the convoys gave an entertaining speech with a few vignettes of life on board, including his memories of the day a very attractive lady opera singer came on board. No-one remembered what she sang and no-one cared.
A minute’s silence was observed, concurrently with the same mark of respect in Russia, where celebrations and memorial services are taking place all week.
A Russian folk group, consisting of accordion, balalaika and singer, then played and sang with great vigour. This was followed by Dairmid Gunn, OBE, who gave a talk on the book commissioned by the CG, Cold Seas and Warm Friendships. Mr Gunn was the author. The book combines photos taken during the Ushakov medal awards ceremonies by the staff photographer, and interviews with 30 veterans. Two pages from the book were shown on nearby screens and you can imagine how I felt when a picture of our Dad appeared.
I do not have a copy of the book but will be speaking to the Consulate staff with a view to obtaining one. [I do now].
The jolly folk trio came back on and then the designer of the new Arctic Convoy tartan, Brian Wilton, design consultant for the Scottish Tartans Authority, described the colours and spoke about the inspiration for the design. You can read more about that in yesterday’s BTW post.
Lastly, there was an extra measure which had not been reported in advance, a commemorative single malt has been curated by Macduff Distillers, on the banks of the River Deveron. It has been in sherry casks since 2008, and at a whopping 56° proof, it is a nip that commands respect, I know because I had some.
The evening wound up with more drinks and canapés. Many veterans wandered or were wheeled out on to the decks. I stood for a while in the gloaming, watching the old men watching the politicians.
