By The Banks Of The Silvery Tay

Today's wedding was a wonderful affair: the ceremony was held in the bride's back garden, pictures taken here by the banks of the River Tay opposite the house and the reception in the local community hall, followed by a ceilidh.

This was taken when we felt the need for a walk after the meal!

Tess managed to spend most of the evening with her foot swathed in ice: she got trodden on in the hurly burly of the first ceilidh dance and it came up like a balloon. She was tended by a medically trained former student of mine who I hadn't seen since she left school, who happens to be a friend of the bride.

Couldn't resist including the notorious Scottish bard William Mcgonagall's "awfully good" tribute to the Tay, especially as it name checks Newport, where the wedding took place:

A Descriptive Poem on the Silvery Tay

Beautiful silvery Tay,
With your landscapes, so lovely and gay,
Along each side of your waters, to Perth all the way;
No other river in the world has got scenery more fine,
Only I am told the beautiful Rhine,
Near to Wormit Bay, it seems very fine,
Where the Railway Bridge is towering above its waters sublime,
And the beautiful ship Mars,
With her Juvenile Tars,
Both lively and gay,
Does carelessly lie
By night and by day,
In the beautiful Bay
Of the silvery Tay.
Beautiful, beautiful! silvery Tay,
Thy scenery is enchanting on a fine summer day,
Near by Balmerino it is beautiful to behold,
When the trees are in full bloom and the cornfields seems like gold –
And nature’s face seems gay,
And the lambkins they do play,
And the humming bee is on the wing,
It is enough to make one sing,
While they carelessly do stray,
Along the beautiful banks of the silvery Tay,
Beautiful silvery Tay, rolling smoothly on your way,
Near by Newport, as clear as the day,
Thy scenery around is charming I’ll be bound…
And would make the heart of any one feel light and gay on a fine summer day,
To view the beautiful scenery along the banks of the silvery Tay.