Burns events launch Moray Homecoming
Date Added - 13/01/09
Moray Council’s libraries and museums service is to launch the Year of Homecoming 2009 with a series of events celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns.
There is an open invitation to a traditional Burns Supper in Buckie library on Thursday, January 22 at 2pm when the haggis will be piped in by Jim Forbes, followed by the Address to the Haggis by Jim Bartlet and an afternoon of Scottish poetry, dance and music by Pat Fraser, Jim Forbes and pupils from Cluny Primary School.
The same evening Lossiemouth library’s Scots Language Group will be holding an open session which will feature stories behind some of the best-known Burns poems and songs. The event takes place in the library at 8pm.
From January 26 to March 6 the Friends of the Falconer Museum at Forres will be staging an exhibition in celebration of Burns.
It will include some of his poems, epitaphs, watercolours based on his poetry, timelines, models of farm equipment from the Burns era and recitations of some of his best-loved poems.
A prize Burns crossword will also be available at the museum and in local shops, with a Burns-theme hamper for the winner.
Councillor Jeff Hamilton, chairman of Moray Council’s children and young people’s services committee, welcomed the initiative as an excellent start to the Year of Homecoming.
“I’m delighted to see this Homecoming year launched in such an imaginative way and in partnership with local communities,” he said.
“This Year of Homecoming offers excellent opportunities to attract visitors to Moray and to involve local communities and organisations in our rich heritage.
“The celebration of Burns is just the start of exciting activity and enjoyment that will put Moray on the map.”
