26 Dec 2010

32nd UK Convention


The Bonnie Scotland Tent will host the next UK Sons of the Desert Convention - based at the Watermill Hotel, Lonend, Paisley PA1 1SR from the 29th April 2011 to 2nd May 2011. The Watermill Hotel is easy to find, near the centre of Paisley. The details so far for the convention include:

  • Friday 29th April: the get-together day, with registration, socialising in the bar, films in the bar, drinks in the bar and the parade of Tents.

  • Saturday 30th April: the morning will include a walking tour of Paisley (with treasure hunt) and a visit to our regular venue (the Tartan Rose); in the afternoon we head for the West of Scotland Rugby Club for lunch and drinks where we will also have the Stan Hooton Memorial Quiz with our own Jeremy Paxman -Eric Woods; plus games as well as films in the bar. We will then head back to Paisley for the evening banquet where there will also be entertainment from Crowded Croft - two fellas who are like peas in a pod - and, in between times, it will be Sons Entertain.

  • Sunday 1st April: there will be an early start for the Bo'ness and Kinneil Steam Railway - a trip on the railway which takes us to the Birkhill Fireclay Mine. Don your hard hat and have a wander down the mine before getting the train back. Or if you are interested after a return trip on the railway, instead of going down the mine, there is a chance for a look behind the scenes at the work of the Railway Preservation Society. Then it's off to the Hippodrome Cinema for a film show. The cinema is licensed and you can take your drinks to your seat. After the show it's back to Paisley for the evening banquet and the Bonnie Scotland Tent Birthday Ceilidh with music by the West Tilferton Caledonian Band - and let's not forget the fancy dress, more drinks and socialising throughout.

  • Monday 2nd April: brings the Grand Sheiks Meeting, which is open to all, followed by farewells and the passing of the pineapple.

The cost is £190. For children up to 5 years old the cost is £108. For those up to the age of 15 the cost is £140. You can pay in instalments, but the full convention fee must be paid by 31st March 2011.

For more details contact Convention Organiser - and Grand Sheik of the Bonnie Scotland Tent - Janice Hawton.

Welcome


Welcome to the website of the Bonnie Scotland Tent of the Sons of the Desert. The Bonnie Scotland Tent meet at the Tartan Rose pub in Broomlands Street, Paisley on the last Wednesday of the month ( although there is not meeting in December 2010) at 7:30pm, where we screen some classic Laurel and Hardy movies and shorts - and if you're lucky you might also catch a Tom & Jerry cartoon as well. Everyone is welcome to come along and enjoy the shows, and if you're keen you can sign up to be a member (at only £10 per year) which includes regular updates and copies of the Bowler Dessert magazine.

Sons of the Desert

The Sons of the Desert is devoted to keeping the lives and works of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before the public, and to have a good time while doing it.

The group takes its name from a lodge that the comedians belong to in the 1933 film Sons of the Desert. In keeping with the tongue-in-cheek “desert” theme, each local chapter of the society is called a “tent,” and is named after a Laurel & Hardy film. Worldwide, there are well over 100 active tents, whose members meet regularly to enjoy Laurel & Hardy movies in an informal atmosphere.

“It is important, I think, to realize that Sons of the Desert is not a fan club,” explained John McCabe, the team's biographer, who founded the Sons in 1965. “The word ‘fan’ derives from ‘fanatic’ and I hope we are none of us that. I consider us ‘buffs,’ people having a connoisseur-like affection for Laurel & Hardy, and being discriminating in that affection, with fun as our goal and operative guide.”