This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Ukraine

29th November 2010

St Andrew’s Night in Kyiv: a Ukrainian-Scottish ceilidh

It’s 9.30 p.m. and the Sancho Panza Restaurant is packed with Scots and Ukrainians in kilts and traditional embroidered linen shirts (actually most of the men in kilts are wearing Ukrainian shirts).  A Scottish/Ukrainian band equipped with bagpipes, a harmonica, fiddles and a tsymbaly play Ukrainian and Scottish dance tunes accompanied by roars of enthusiasm from the dancers.

Welcome to St Andrew’s Night in Kyiv.  St Andrew is the patron saint of both Scotland and Ukraine, which seems an excellent reason to organise a terrific multicultural knees-up accompanied by a selection of zakuski (traditional Ukrainian/Russian starters) followed by haggis with tatties and neeps.  Cross-cultural fertilisation doesn’t get any better than this, even if we do meet a couple of days early to catch the weekend.  The organisers not only lay on a fine selection of music and dance, but there’s also singing of traditional Scottish and Ukrainian songs.  To help with the latter there’s a neat booklet setting out not only the words to key songs including The Lum Hat Wantin’ the Croon, Donald Where’s Your Trousers and , but also comparing Scottish Tartans such as Isle of Skye and Gordon with Ukrainian Plakhta patterns from different regions of the country.

All in all it’s a great evening and a privilege to be invited.  I’m looking forward to next year already.
 

About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.