St Andrews Day

"Wher'er we live, what'er our lot

Still will I plead and pray

That Scot rejoice wi' brither Scot

Upon St Andrew's Day"

Today I was in St Giles Cathedral for The Festival Of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Patron of Scotland.

The Knights of the Order of the Thistle have it in their Charter to worship in St Giles on St Andrews Day, and for the past 60 years or so have invited to their worship representatives of the armed forces and police, the universities, various professional bodies, Judges and advocates etc, The Lord Provost and City of Edinburgh Council, The Royal Academy, The Grand Lodge of Scotland, and several cultural bodies, including the Robert Burns World Federation. Today I was privileged to lead our representatives in procession into St Giles.

This is truly a grand occasion, we meet in the magnificent Signet Library where maces are polished, robes are donned, and chains of office adorned, (the Federation chain is among the grandest and I was immensely proud to bear it today) as we are called into order for the short procession across the square and into the cathedral. The Provost and Councillors come directly from the city chambers, escorted by the very smart High Constables of Edinburgh bearing their ceremonial silver batons, and the peers of the realm all file in after we more ordinary mortals are escorted to our pews. In this wonderful building, as the Choir begin the Order of the Thistle come into the sanctuary. We then join in a service or worship led by The Very Rev Gilleasbuig Macmillan, Minister of St Giles and Dean of the Thistle, aided by the wonderful singing of the choir.

After our devotions, we retire again to the Signet Library, before taking our several ways with satisfaction that we have taken part in some rich pageantry honouring our Patron Saint.

We are honoured to get this invitation annually, and I have had the pleasure of attending a few of these services. This year we had a number of representatives from Edinburgh, and from as far afield as Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Dumfries. I would encourage all Members of the Federation to take up a future invitation to take part in this wonderful occasion.

Matt Gilbert, sad news

On Sunday I got the message that Matt Gilbert has passed away. I have known Matt for over 20 years, from the earliest day he came to the Clackmannan Stirling and West Perthsire Association of Burns Clubs as a representative of his Club, Dundas Burns Society, Grangemouth. Matt was a staunch Burnsian, very well read in Burns lore, and would quote facts of the Bards life, or works if the discussions came round. It was little surprise that Matt graduated to become President of the Association for a number of years. He did sterling work for his own Club and was always ready to assist those around him in their efforts, and particularly applied himself to furthering work in several schools around Falkirk and Grangemouth. He served the wider Burns movement, as a delegate to the Federation Executive for many years, sitting on the Heritage Committee. He held strong principles, I never knew him to waiver from these, one knew where Matt stood on an issue, always in the best interests of all Burnsians. Even after all his many years of service to the Executive, there will be those who did not know him very well. for he was a quiet self effacing character who certainly shunned the limelight, preferring to work effectively from the shadows, but who would appear with strength to offer his opinion when key issues were debated. These few thoughts are only the briefest of tribute that I pay for now, now doubt many will write fuller obituary in the next while. Matt will be sadly missed at the Federation, mourned by the area Association, and always fondly remembered by Dundas and other Clubs and the community of Grangemouth. Our sincerest condolences to his family at this time of great loss.

It has been a bleak time for the Burns movement as we have lost several great supporters this past while. Betty MacMillan, our generous supporter and patron from London sadly passed away in September. David Smith, one of Irvine's best known personalities, sadly no more. And recently Dumfries and all the Burns world mourns Donnie McCuaig. Sad times for us all.

A visit to Paisley.

One of the great pleasures in being President is that one gets invited to many special places, and recently I was in the Hallowed surroundings of Robert Tannahill's cottage. For those of you who do not know, Robert Tannahill was a weaver in Paisley, 1774 - 1810, who was noted for writing poems and songs in Scots dialect. Tannahill also has the distinction that he was one of the founders and the first Secretary of Paisley Burns Club from their inception in 1805 until his tragic death (by suicide) in 1810. The cottage where Tannahill lived and worked came into the possession of Paisley Burns Club many decades ago and closely resembled the premises he would have known until a few years back when a devastating fire reduced it to a shell. Paisley Burns Club are one of the first, if not the very first Burns Club, to be formally constituted, and their tradition ad history gives them a strength that few can surpass. In the face of this traumatic damage to their premises they set about retrieving the situation and have done a sterling job in breathing new life into the site, and now in place of the weaving room and caretakers accommodation they have a marvellous meeting room with another fine ante room and other facilities. The fire cost the Club many of their heirlooms but several survive having been in safekeeping elsewhere and are now displayed in the premises. As you would expect of a Club of this vintage and origins there are some outstanding pieces in this collection. The Club have also worked to restore their Library and have a range of books that would be the envy of many.

I joined the Club for one of their regular monthly meetings. A dram to toast the Memory of Robert Burns starts the evening, and usual Club business is conducted. Their habit is then to have a paper on a Burns topic, and I enjoyed a brief resume of the magic of Burns Letters, then the second paper (generally on some other Scottish literary topic) was given on the life of Samuel Smiles, a great author and reformer, native of Haddington as was the speaker. These were both well delivered and fascinating papers, If these are typical of the standard of proposal normally given then it is no wonder Paisley Burns Club continues in strength. To conclude the entertainment a wonderful slide show, with hilarious captions, of the Clubs summer bus trip had everyone laughing. John Haining who visited with me gave a few anecdotes of his time as President and I concluded the evening with a few remarks.

We were both presented with a small memento of our visit, a copy of the Club Chronicle which they publish annually as a record of the year. It will bring back many pleasant memories.

Should the opportunity arise to visit Tannahill's cottage, take the chance to view this wonderful place in Scotland's heritage.

Clubs and Associations,

For the browsers who do not know the structure of the Federation can I explain a little. The Federation began in 1885 as a gathering for the multitude of Burns Clubs established to celebrate Robert Burns, and while some years ago we moved to include individuals and families as Members the essential structure and organisation still leans heavily on the Clubs, and into the various groupings, or associations, into which they were formed to provide the mainstay of our organisational structure. Scotland is divided into a dozen areas, there are several in England, one each in Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada and a few others covering other parts of the world. Each of these associations send delegates to the Federation Executive meetings, 3 per annum, and this is where the several committees meet to deal with the various aspects of Federations interests.

The associations are as varied as the parts they are based in, and I have had the pleasure recently of sitting in on a few meetings. I have previously blogged here about such a meeting in Dumfries, The Southern Scottish Counties Burns Association, where as you would expect, their close connection with the later part of Burns life, leads to a great deal of enthusiasm and support from Burns afficianados.

The same can be said for Ayrshire Association of Burns Clubs, where recently I was fortunate to call in on their Annual General Meeting in Dalry, and join with them as they celebrated their centenary as a group. They do not however rest on their laurels, I found a very well supported meeting, representing many Clubs, with several well know servants of the wider Burns movement. It was very interesting to hear the plans many of the Clubs have in hand for special events for 2009.

Across the other side of the country in Edinburgh one fine evening I joined Edinburgh Association for quite a special meeting. We gathered in the offices of Edinburgh World Heritage, a fine buiding in Charlotte Square next door to Bute House, the First Ministers official residence, to hear of EWH plans to conserve the Edinburgh Burns Monument, which we all agree is in need of some significant work. EWH works closely with Edinburgh City Council in looking after much of Edinburgh which is designated a significant heritage site of word importance. They have a scheme in hand for £250,000 worth of work to the Burns Monument and you will soon be hearing more about this substantial project, and their appeal to raise the funding. After the EWH presentation the Edinburgh Association held their meeting. Perhaps not as numerate as the other meetings I have been to, there was around a dozen clubs represented, there was a similar level of enthusiasm for their Clubs, for Burns time in Edinburgh, and for plans to celebrate 2009 in style with one or two special events. Note that the 2009 Federation Conference is in Edinburgh and this could be quite a special treat for those attending. I look forward to catching up with these Associations again during my Presidency and calling in on several of the clubs I met there.

I look forward to catching up with other Associations throughout my Presidency.

Desperate Dandy

I would like to give you a great example of how broad a cultural position many of our Burns Clubs take. On Tuesday evening I was at a meeting of Perth Burns Club, for a talk on some of Scotlands most popular modern literary icons, The Broons, Oor Wullie, and Desperate Dan et al from the comics of D C Thomson. David Torrie, lately of the creative staff of this great comic institution, gave a light hearted look at the history of the comics, Beano, Dandy, Bunty etc, the comic strips of the Sunday Post, and their characters, charting their development from the first editions through to modern times, and the changes there have been along the way, all illustrated by a great slideshow of the various editions of comics and strips. Perth meetings such as this are open to the public and there were a few in the audience who had been attracted by this topic (The Club find this a great way of recruiting new members). It is perhaps more than a century from the Club's early beginings as a gentlemans literary society, but the Club still provide an interesting forum for discussion on many popular topics, not just Burns. check out their future syllabus on www.geocities.com/perthburnsclub

Hearts of Midlothian

Last Friday I had the pleasure of joining Danderhall Burns Club at one of their social evenings. This was a very enjoyable get together, a gathering of around 30 members enjoying the fellowship of a few hours together whiled away as many took their turn to perform their party piece song or poem. This is a regular feature on the Club calendar, Danderhall club meet all year round for a variety of events, President Sam Campbell told me of their various meetings, visits to other clubs, trips to Burns Country etc, and their schools competitions. This is very much a community based club, rightly proud of their roots and mining heritage, supporting the social heart of their village with a focus on Burns but a broad outlook. It was good to see a spectrum of ages attending, and giving of their individual talents to entertain their fellows. This is perhaps not the geographical heart of Midlothian but these men are the true heartbeat.

Alloway Burns Club Centenary

Angus Middleton, President of Ayrshire Association of Burns Clubs, with president Bill

On Friday evening I had the pleasure of being with Alloway Burns Club as they celebrated their Centenary, yes one hundred years in existence for this great Club. Of course their roots go back much further being successors to the group which initiated the practice of holding gatherings to celebrate the birth of Burns and enjoy the wondeful legacy of poems and songs he left us. A few years after Burns death a group of his Ayrshire friends gathered on the anniversary of his death to remember the Poet, and from there resolved to meet on the annversary of his birth thus starting the Burns Supper. no doubt this continued until Alloway Burns Club was officially formed 100 years ago. Apart from the tradition of the Burns night, Alloway also has done sterling service looking after the various Burns sites in their localle, and still are doing valiant work including their recent rejuvination of Mungo's Well.

It was a real pleaure to be with the Club for their celbrations of this great milestone, and what a grand occassion it was. South Ayrshire Council gave a champagne reception on arrival, main entertainment was from Sheena Wellington, singing a few extracts from the songs as she gave an entertaining understanding of Burns works. Other highlights were a Toast to the Club by Rev Neil McNaught and a presentation to several Past-Presidents. There was an Auction ably conducted by Angus Middleton which raised a substantial sum to offset the sundry expenses of the night. At Auld Lang Syne everyone could conclude it was a very fitting tribute for the Club's Centenary.

Autioneer Angus, ably assisted by Bill Duncan, seeks bids for the star Lot, a painting illustrating "The Twa Dogs" by Club Member Bill Kerr and below the hammer falls on a great night

The First Fortnight

It is just over two weeks since I posed with my Vice Presidents, above on my right, Senior Vice Mike Duguid and on my left newly elected Junior Vice President, David Baird. It has been quite a busy couple of weeks with several engagements, at a variety of very enjoyable gatherings, and on all occasions I was most warmly welcomed as I sported the magnificent gold chain.

My first outing on the Tuesday after Conference was to the first autumn event of Perth Burns Club, where I was giving a short lecture entitled "The Sweetest Hour" based of course on some of the ladies in Burns life, but not necessarily following the generally accepted judgement on their place of importance in his story.

On Saturday 13th September I attended a meeting of The Southern Scottish Counties Burns Association, and found a well attended, convivial but businesslike meeting. It was great to hear of a number of plans they have well advanced for the great celebrations of 2009. Afterwards at a relaxed lunch, conversation was around many Burns related topics. Altogether a most enjoyable occasion.

The next day I officiated at The Clackmannan Stirling and West Perthshire Association Annual Bowling Tournament, this is the annual social get together of my home association and it was a fine afternoon for great bowls, and at the end I had the pleasure of presenting the prizes, first going to Greenloaning Burns Club, and runners-up to Denny.

Greenloaning below and Denny right

The following Tuesday, 16th September, I travelled to Dumfries again for a great event. Hosted by Dumfries Ladies Burns Club, the renowned "world championship" Tam O' Shanter Competition, where readers from across the globe gather in The Globe, to give of their best before the judges, including your President, and a packed audience of enthusiasts, to be acclaimed the winner. We had five recitations, and no doubt this will all be reported in detail elsewhere so I will only say the worthy winner was Willie Horne from The Airts Burns Club, Prestonpans, by the way Willie also won the recent Lapraik recitation competition, he is really setting a high standard for others to follow.

I returned to Dumfries again on Saturday past, to Ellisland, where Jane Brown and some friends had laid on an evening to meet with the young winners of the St Petersberg Forum competitions and enjoy a concert given by these youngsters and a number of young performers from the locale. Expect a full report of this elsewhere as well, suffice to say it was a great show from four very talented young Russians and several equally gifted Scots.

Pictured above is Jane Brown (third from left), while I have the pleasure of centering the quartet of young Russians.

Jane has to be hugely congratulated for her work in organising this evening. The St Petersberg Forum and those from the Federation who work with them are to be applauded for their efforts, they are certainly worthy of support.

That is all for this blog, I can't promise as much every fortnight, but I hope to post fairly regularly so keep checking in.

1st Federation Blog

Last weekend at the 2008 Federation Conference in Newcastle I was honoured to be inaugurated as President of The Robert Burns World Federation. In my acceptance speech there, I spoke immediately of the burden of this great office using the term "burden" because the first impact of the inauguration was the substantial weight of the President's chain of office imposed on my shoulders. and that is allegorical with the extent of the duties that I will undertake as President for the forthcoming year. Now that I have had a little time to look over the chain, at the names of the many Past-Presidents engraved on the medals forming the chain, some of these names of great men legendary in Burns appreciation, it is quite daunting to feel the depth of history and tradition that I now become part of. I undertake to bear this chain, this great office, in the name of The Robert Burns World Federation, with all the dignity it demands, with the enthusiasm that all the Members give me, and with every ounce of energy that I can muster. When I was first nominated for the post of Junior Vice-President I received many messages of support from a' the airts, that was all quite unexpected, but very gratifying that over my many years in this organisation I have built up such a gathering of friends and colleagues, all of us in pursuit of a greater understanding of Robert Burns Works, his life and philosophy. Again on graduation to this office I have had so many messages of good wishes and congratulations, it is all most appreciated and I assure all those I will return this support tenfold if it is within my power.I look forward to 2009, 250 years on from Burns birth, and to the many wonderful special events that are planned to mark this great anniversary. Not just the major spectacular January weekend events, but I look forward to catch many of the club events planned throughout 2009, within and outwith Scotland. I know many clubs and associations have plans in hand, I have several in my diary, but I will make a date for as many more as I can, simply to join with you in your club as you mark this milestone. Clubs that have not made any plans yet, - think, set a night aside in your programme, and build a theme around a particular connection to Burns, if there is anything I can do to help, please ask, I am at your beck and call.I look forward to every aspect of my year as President; I look forward to my duties in the boardroom as Chairman of a panel of enthusiastic Directors striving to secure the business of this movement for the next year and for the future, beyond 2009 to many other great anniversaries. I very much look forward to the Executive meetings, taking an overview of all the fantastic work of the committees, and I also want to meet with you all back in the Clubs and Associations, developing further friendships for the Federation. That is my manifesto for my time as custodian of this great chain, the emblem of this great purpose we share, for it is shared, I carry this Chain by the grace of all the Federation Membership, and for that I am deeply honoured.