Burns supper celebrations at Bridgnorth Rugby Club - in pictures

Bridgnorth Rugby Club's annual Burns Supper saw players and associates celebrate the life of poet Robert Burns in traditional Scottish fashion while raising money for the league's chosen charity for the season.

Kilts were donned as blue and white flags were draped around the shoulders of props and scrum-halves in the clubhouse on Bridge Street, as members celebrated the life and work of the successful poet.

Similar events took place nationwide and are normally held on or near to Robert Burns' birthday on January 25.

Andrew Mackay, known as Adj, plays for the veterans team as a prop and has been organising the event for the last 12 years.

The 59-year-old said: "It really was a great success. We had 60 people in the clubhouse all singing out, joined by our singer Emily who we had come in to perform some traditional Scottish tunes.

"It's been going on even longer than I've been involved in it, and it's always a great night.

"We're still counting the money but from the Burns Supper we're hoping to have raised about £1,500, even with the couple of catering expenses we had."

The celebrations continued throughout the weekend as players took to the pitch the following day to host a North Midlands Cup semi-final match against Dudley Kingswinford fuelled on haggis and liquor.

A competition Bridgnorth won last year, a valiant victory now means the Shropshire side will face either Bournville, Kidderminster or Old Halesonians in the final.

The fundraising efforts continued on the sidelines as a Doddie Weir 'wheelbarrow of booze' was raffled, with the money combining with funds raised from the Burns Supper to be donated to the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation.

The charity was launched by Doddie Weir, a former Scottish international Rugby Union player who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2017.

Adj added: "It's been a really good fundraising project. We raised £665 from the raffle so all in all we're hoping to have topped £2,000 for charity."