Reflections from the President of the Robert Burns World Federation
Following my promotion to the president’s post we have been busy keeping up with the constant spiral of requests for visits and appearances at events within the Burns’ fraternity throughout the country and beyond. The presidential journey began with a full weekend of entertainment organised by the Glasgow Association of Burns Clubs who in conjunction […]
When I joined Irvine Burns Club back in January 1969, I never imagined that I would someday become President of that long-established local Burns Club, but it happened to me in 1989 when I followed my lawyer friend, Matthew Brown into the President’s Chair. If that elevation came as a surprise, then it was nothing […]
The dust has settled after another hugely busy and very enjoyable and successful conference at Irvine. I would like to thank Bill Nolan, Jane Brown, Irvine Burns Club, Irvine Lasses and of course Margaretann, Bev and the conference committee for running the event on very professional lines. The many hundreds of people Moira and I […]
“The heather was blooming, the meadows were mawn, Our lads gaed a-hunting, ae day at the dawn” These lines from “The heather was blooming” are listed under the 1st of September in “The Best of Burns” a book of daily quotes I mentioned in my July Blog. I find myself composing my final blog in […]
Burns is reported to have commented on “the kind hospitality and most agreeable little party” when he visited Covington Mains en route to Edinburgh in November 1786 and met with Archibald “Baldy” Prentice. My good friend David Smith rode shotgun for me on a beautiful summer’s Sunday for the Covington Mains ceremony. The welcome and […]
“Simmer’s a pleasant time” the Bard told us in the love song “Aye Waulkin’ O”. The recent spell of incredible weather certainly lifts the spirits and has allowed Burns Clubs and Associations with various summer commemorative events to plan with some confidence. June started off for me with the Dumfries and Galloway Burns Association Annual […]
‘I’m gaun tae Mauchline Holy Fair To spend an hour in daffin Gin you’ll go there, you rankl’d pair We will get famous laughin’ At them this day’ Tae Mauchline Holy Fair I did go and spent a good part of it laughing with friends. The Holy Fair is a colourful and spectacular occasion. […]
Moira and I have just returned from a trip to the USA. Burns is weel kent and popular in this massive country. Burns was a great admirer of George Washington for whom he wrote ‘An Ode For General Washington’s Birthday’. Washington to Burns was the epitomy of liberty, strength and freedom for the individual. I […]
‘Again rejoicing Nature sees, Her robe aasume its virtual hues, Her leafy locks wave in the breeze, All freshly steep’d in morning dews.’ A few lines from ‘Composed in spring’, 1786. I resisted the temptation to add a few lines from ‘Ode to spring’ which appears in the Merry Muses. As I write the […]
We end February with ‘winds baith snell and keen’. As I write this month’s blog, we find the country in the midst of a weather front which has been described by the press as ‘the beast from the east’. Snow falls and lies in Kirkcudbright, something very unusual and very rare. I write to […]
