Burns museum starts to take shape

Sep 18 2009 by Yonnie McInnes

NAT Edwards, director of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, is based in a very unglamorous portable cabin perched on a temporary site within the gardens of the Tam o’ Shanter Experience.

“I am working between my base here and the National Trust for Scotland’s headquarters in Edinburgh at the moment, but I’m really looking forward to the day when myself and all the staff can finally move into the new museum next summer,” said Nat, who is relishing his return to Alloway.

Nat revealed that when the new museum is constructed it will face Murdoch’s Loan at an angle.

Future plans include a new pedestrian bridge across the old railway line, which will link the museum to the wide pathway that runs between the playing fields and leads to the main road to Burns Cottage.

“We hope to link the museum better to the cottage by having relevant instalments along the pathway, perhaps some sculptures, and also tell the tale of Tam o’ Shanter in pieces of artwork.

“We’ll also have weatherproof installations in the museum gardens and Scots words in the dry-stone walls.

“It’s not going to look like Disneyland, but it will have a lot of thought behind it from the creative people that are working on this exciting project.

“We also hope to open up the field behind Burns Cottage, which is currently enclosed, to give visitors an impression of the wide-open spaces that Burns would have seen when he came out of his back door and to give the site a better sense of a cottage set in a rural landscape.”

As to the new education centre, which will be sited in the former museum building beside Burns Cottage, it’s being completely revamped with a new roof, electrics, and is now wind and waterproof.

“We are also putting in a catering kitchen to allow organisations to hold events within our grounds and bring us added income,” added Nat.

“It will be an added facility for the community and we hope many people will ask us how we can help them to use it. We will also be hiring out the museum for corporate events after hours, as the space simply has to earn its keep and will look fantastic in the evening.

“My main job is to make sure that this project happens and that everybody knows about it.

“In a few years time I’d like us to be able to look back and be surprised as to what’s actually happened and what we’ve achieved.

“Right now we’re fundraising not only here – and the Ayrshire community continues to support us marvellously in many ways – but also in America, London, and the Far East.

“We are also in early discussions with the First Minister and the Culture Minister who have expressed a desire to help us spread the word about the RBBM when they visit Russia next year.”

Nat first worked as park director at this site and joined in 2001, he recalled, 10 days after the 9/11 terrorist attack, when it was then the Burns National Heritage Park.

He left in 2004 to become manager for education and interpretation at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, where he looked after exhibits, events and capital projects, and the acquisition of the John Murray archives.

This contained famous works published by Darwin to Dickens and Jane Austin, which received a £17m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to preserve it for the nation.

Nat also organised the national touring exhibition Zig Zag: The Paths of Robert Burns, which featured some 36,000 objects from Scotland’s National Collection when it visited Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries.

“I remained involved with Burns and chaired, for quite a few years, the National Burns Collection Consortium, when we carried out a survey of all Burns collections in Scotland.

“However, I was still very much in touch with what was going on down here during that period,” added Nat.

“When the new museum opens we want to change people’s perception on Burns, and if all we do is make people dig out a book of his poems and read a few then we’re succeeding.

“We want them to learn about Burns, without really knowing they are learning, and explore not only his poetry but his music and his art too, giving visitors of all ages a more rounded view of Burns the man.

“When you think about it, Burns went far beyond his time with his fame becoming international.

“He was well educated and played on his ploughman poet image for the ladies in the salons of Edinburgh. He was a long way from that, and his life has a lot of echoes regarding the way that we think about celebrity today – he was the first modern celebrity figure.

“There were lots of famous 18th century people, but only one Burns in terms of the sheer volume and variety of works that he produced in such a short time.

“He went far beyond his time and place to become internationally famous.

“We also want to reintroduce Burns’ political persona.

“He wasn’t a party political person, but he did have some pretty radical views and wasn’t afraid to voice them in his works.

“Apart from housing a stunning Burns collection, our new museum will also be one of the very few places where you can learn about the Scots language.

“Our official opening will be in January 2011 to allow us to ensure everything is running smoothly.

“It will be a major event and, yes, it would be nice if people like Muhammad Ali could attend, but no invitations have been sent out yet. We’ll just have to see who’s available.”

The world famous boxer, then Cassius Clay, was pictured sitting in a chair made out of the Kilmarnock Edition printing press when he visited Burns Cottage, Alloway, in the 60s and became an honorary member of Alloway Burns Club.

“Ali was quite a poet at the time of his visit and at the top of his game when he visited,” said Nat.

“He too was a rebel who transcended that political element.”

Already, over £1m out of the remaining £4m needed to complete the capital works has been raised for this multi-funded £21m project.