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St Andrew’s Day in Uganda

British High Commission celebrates Scotland’s national day. UK Prime Minister's message

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government
The Saltire

St Andrew's Day: The Saltire

On Friday 28 November 2014, the British High Commission marked St Andrew’s Day, the national day of Scotland, by flying the Saltire of St Andrews, Scotland’s national flag. St Andrew’s Day is on 30 November, which this year falls on a Sunday. Dressed in the kilt, the most famous element of Scotland’s national costume, Clark Adam, a member of staff at the High Commission and a proud Scot, took charge of raising the Saltire on the High Commission’s flagpole.

St Andrew's Day

Clark Adam raises the Saltire at the British High Commission in Kampala

Earlier in November 2014, the High Commissioner, HE Alison Blackburne, hosted a business networking event for the British and Chinese business communities in Uganda. At this event, Diageo, the British parent company of Uganda Breweries Ltd, arranged whisky tasting for the investors present, promoting one of Scotland’s best-known exports.

There is a thriving Scottish community in Uganda, and strong links between Scotland and Uganda. These include a growing community of Uganda alumni of Scottish universities, many of whom hold key positions in the public and private sectors.

On 30 November 2014, to mark St Andrew’s Day, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, issued a message. The full text of the message is included below:

PM’s ST ANDREW’S DAY MESSAGE

Less than three months ago the people of Scotland voted to keep the UK together and I was just one of the millions of people who were relieved, proud and delighted that Scotland decided to stay.

There was one big message at the heart of our campaign:

We can have a strong UK and a strong Scotland – with its own identity and achievements to celebrate.

That’s what St Andrew’s day is all about.

As we celebrate St Andrew’s Day, we celebrate Scotland this great nation of culture and enterprise, of pride and passion whose countrymen and women gave the world the steam engine, the television, penicillin James Bond, Harry Potter – even the Higgs Boson.

Today, Scotland’s national day, the world shows its admiration for those achievements and the bagpipes will ring out from the islands of Argyll to the streets of New York.

Everywhere you look around the globe, people want a bit of Scotland…

…in Australia, where tartan is proudly worn…

…in the Bahamas and Canada, where haggis is eaten…

…and in France, where they drink more Scotch in a month than they do Cognac in a year.

This St Andrew’s Day, we will be celebrating that huge global reach, flying the flag for Scotland at our UK embassies and high commissions.

And when I think of the Saltire set against the sun in Dar es Salaam, billowing in the Ottawa wind, I think of all the incredible things that we are doing, together, as a United Kingdom, whether it is our aid workers in West Africa, saving people from the deadly Ebola virus our security forces keeping us all safe from the threat of ISIL or our businesses taking on the world – and winning.

The key to a successful future is working, as one, for the good of us all.

That is why all of us – in every corner of our country – will be celebrating St Andrew’s Day and why nowhere will the Saltire be flown more proudly than here, above 10 Downing Street.

Published 28 November 2014
Last updated 1 December 2014 + show all updates
  1. Content added from the Prime Minister's St Andrew's Day message

  2. First published.