Charlie D's is open for business

Charlie D's opens with Whisky Tasting Evening

There was a happy contented glow amongst the big attendance at the opening of the re-vamped Gallery Restaurant, now called Charlie D's in honour of one of The Pars greatest players - Charlie Dickson.

The Pars Former Players Association had organised a Whisky Tasting Evening to celebrate the event. How much of the glow came from the glorious amber nectar on offer, became more confused as the evening progressed, as indeed, did some of the participants.

Pars fanatic, Chris Wishart, donated twelve bottles of a range of top quality Single Malt Whiskies to set the event up. The FPA, mainly through the organisational skills of Bonar Mercer and Margaret Ross, had arranged a very enjoyable evening's entertainment.

1961 cup winners: Charlie Dickson, Ron Mailer and Dave Thomson

Whisky expert Daryl Haldane, from Highland Park, after an entertaining talk on how whisky is created, stored and bottled, demonstrated how connoisseurs sample whisky. This was lost on some of the audience as they hadn't saved any from the first "sip". Three different whiskies were used to illustrate:- The sweet gentle Glenmorangie, the luxurious 18 year old Highland Park and the smoky and peaty Ardbeg, from Islay. Everyone had their favourite and used this to select a further couple of drams from the menu of 12.

The evening was compered excellently by Jason Barber and he carried out chatty interviews with Jim Jefferies, Bert Paton and Ian Westwater. All three interviews were both entertaining and, at times, hilarious.

  
Above: Alex Smith, Charlie Dickson and Harry Melrose
Below: Alex Smith and Harry Melrose with Charlie's son and family

The official opening was performed by Charlie Dickson's son, who had travelled up from Liverpool. He was accompanied by other members of the Dickson family and it was very nice to be able to celebrate the memory of the great Pars legend, so sadly lost to us earlier this year.

Thanks to the band of helpers, who also provided nibbles and snacks, the warm glow of the whisky and the cheery banter, the evening was a big success, leaving everyone asking when the next one was going to take place.

Charlie D's has been tastefully revamped and now includes The Pars Hall of Fame - a much more fitting situation for it.
Charlie D's is open for business and is a very flexible venue, ideal for quiz nights and parties, etc.

Watch this space for the next Whisky Tasting evening.

Charlie Dickson, third from left in Budapest to play Ujpest Dozsa