Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Congregation holding raffle for dinner anywhere

Balmoral Castle in Scotland. 

Balmoral Castle in Scotland.  COURTESY PHOTO

By MARTHA GUNN EICHLER

Special to the Ledger Transcript 

Published: 12-25-2024 11:01 AM

Maria Brown of Lyndeborough and Ellie Gunn of Winsted, Conn., have something in common, though they’ve never met.

They are both prior winners of the “Dinner for Two Anywhere in the World” raffle, an annual fundraiser run by the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Congregation. They both have Scottish heritage, and they both chose Scotland as their destination. Brown’s ancestors are from the Bruce clan; her husband Steve’s are McLeod and MacGillivray clans. Gunn’s ancestors, the Gunn clan, hail from a remote area in northeastern Scotland.

The raffle provides round-trip airfare and one special dinner, and two nights accommodations, for a cost of up to $5,000, for two people. Both Brown and Gunn used their prizes as seed money for more-expansive travel. Joined by her husband, Brown spent time in Edinburgh, Crieff, and Glasgow in September. They stayed in Edinburgh at the luxury hotel The Scotsman, and dined at the hotel’s restaurant, The Grand Café. They also attended Sunday worship at St. Giles' Cathedral. 

Gunn traveled with her sister Doris Scholtz in June 2023, and Scholtz’s son Michael joined them at his own expense. They all flew to Dublin first, and then on to Scotland, where they began their tour with their special dinner at The Witchery in Edinburgh. After Scotland, the trio also visited England for a few days.

Asked to share a highlight of their travel experiences, Maria and Ellie offered these reflections. 

“Having been to the Highland Games for several years at Loon Mountain, we planned the trip around the Braemar Highland Games in the Cairngorms, where King Charles made an appearance,” Brown stated. “The Literary Pub Tour and the four-castle tour of Outlander were both amazing adventures. Crieff was a beautiful, quaint town with excellent dining and whiskey distillery tour. We walked around a lot, felt very safe, loved the food and had three different experiences at each place we stayed. We can’t wait to go back. The raffle made a long-time dream come true.” 

According to Gunn, it was her first time winning anything ever, and she stated that she was shocked and excited to win, especially because she bought the ticket from family. She stated that her choice was “to go to Scotland as it is part of my heritage. My nephew was fearless tackling the driving over hill and dale, which we did. We started in Edinburgh, which now has my heart! We then drove through the Highlands, up to Inverness and back and toured Balmoral and the coast on our way back to Edinburgh. It was an amazing trip and I do want to go back, especially as I didn’t get to where the Gunns originate from – the extreme northeast of Scotland near Carthness.” 

Raffle tickets are $20, and support the works of the PUUC. The drawing for the winning ticket will occur on Jan. 5. Tickets are on sale through Dec. 31. Send email to dinneranywhere@uupeterborough.org, and a member will respond with dates and times of office hours, or even deliver tickets. Visit uupeterborough.org/dinneranywhere for full details and rules. 

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