Places to Go and Things to See

It has been a wonderfully busy weekend, and more of that later, but I want to put out a little info to you on some places of interest I was visiting yesterday so as you tour around Burns Country you may look in

Before leaving Dumfries yesterday, I called in at St Michael's Church. At the SSCBA Gala Dinner, in the Easterbrook Hall on Sunday night, I had spoken to Betty Haining about arranging a visit and we met there to find the Church had opened for visitors at this special time, (it is a pity the town's Robert Burns Centre did not have the same initiative), as they do through the summer. I saw the new stained glass depictions of Burns and Jean Armour, and the beautiful marble bust of the Bard all newly unveiled the day before, 25th January, and had a great guided tour of the church with all the information on the history of the Parish Church.

The fine new marble bust of Robert Burns in St Michael's Church, Dumfries

My next stop was the Globe Inn, recently refurbished after some structural restorations, and was lucky enough to latch on to a tour guided by their resident expert, Jane Brown. The Globe and the Burns world are very fortunate to have someone with the enthusiasm and knowledge of Jane there to guide tourists.

We journeyed home through Thornhill where the Thornhill and District Burns Club have mounted a fantastic display in Thomas Tosh gallery, showing the story of Burns as an Exciseman in the parishes of Nithsdale. A wonderful telling of the story detailing Burns onerous excise duties, mainly prior to his transfer to Dumfries. with great displays giving a lot of local connections. Many congratulations to Thornhill and District. I was given a CD entitled Pass the Haggis, a dozen or so Burns Poems and Songs performed by local children, produced by pupils of Wallace Hall Academy to celebrate the 250th, well done Wallace Hall.

I congratulate the proprietor of Thomas Tosh for the outstanding exhibition.

Last evening I was at the National Library in Edinburgh, as they launched the touring of their great exhibition of Burns Life, entitled Zig Zag. This brings together a number of exhibits from around the country, and shows them off in an easily interpreted format. It has been on show in Edinburgh for some time to much acclaim, and now is off touring Scotland, opening shortly in Dumfries before making it to Aberdeen and Glasgow later in the year. Try to catch it somewhere along the way.

This weekend marks the opening of an exhibition in Perth Art Gallery and Museum, "The Spirit of Burns", featuring the works of Jim Douglas. The exhibition runs for some time and will be supported by a series of afternoon talks on various Burns subjects. I look forward to looking in on this soon. If you are in Perth between 29th January and 14th February, Perth Theatre have a production of Tam O' Shanter, which they bill as a wild musical ride. That will surely be worth a visit.

I add here an email I recieved reviewing the Perth Theatre show, certainly sounds like one to see.

I went to see the Tam o’ Shanter play/musical last night at Perth Theatre.
I whole heartedly concur with Donald Mac review, in that it was a superb interpretation of some of the poems and songs of Robert Burns, and brought into the 21st century by a lively set of 11 young actors, dancers and musicians.
Special mention to the performance of “The Jolly Beggars: A Cantata”
And also the dance sequence in the auld Kirk at Alloway was imaginative and energetic as performance I have ever seen.
I think that it was greatly entertaining, amusing and informative both to the wider public not only a hard core of Burns people.
I think it is a total credit to Gerry Mulgrew and Perth Theatre for this production and hope and wish that it gets at least a showing in the west of Scotland and at best a national or international tour.
I recommend that if you have not seen it to go as it only on for 2 more days... and may not reappear, as to quote the man
“Or like the snow fall on the river,A moment white - then melts forever”

Elliot Boyle