Robert Burns Birthplace Museum opens to the public

Dec 17 2010 by Yonnie McInnes, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

ROBERT Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway has finally opened for business.

This almost completes the largest, most ambitious, project the National Trust for Scotland has ever undertaken.

Previously, work had also been carried out at both Burns Cottage and the Auld Kirk, making a total of £21 million for the whole project.

This is the first major museum to open in Scotland in three years, and it will make this Burns Heritage site a major worldwide attraction.

When the old Tam O’Shanter Experience closed in September, the new museum opened its café and shop to the public even as demolition of the old building took place.

But the public had to wait a little longer for the museum space to be completed with its many complex, hi-tech and fun features.

On the day before the museum could finally be viewed, singer Eddi Reader and Alan Archibald, Burns’ great-great-great-great-great nephew – and the first Burns Ambassadors to be announced – joined Nat Edwards, museum director, on a tour of the museum.

Also revealed that day were a clutch of new Burns Ambassadors who will now help spread the word about Burns and this state-of-the-art, ecologically sound building, throughout our community and beyond to interested groups.

They are:-

Joe Campbell, of Ayr, who was managing director of West Sound Radio from 1982 to 1996 as well as being President of the Robert Burns World Federation in 1999

Joe is now its Honorary President. He created and hosted West Sound Burns Suppers and has spoken at suppers in both Russia and America.

Hamish Husband, from Ayr, centre manager for Calor Gas is spokesman for the Association of Tartan Army Clubs.

Hayleigh Barclay, of Prestwick, a recent graduate of the University of the West of Scotland, wrote Beauty and the Bard, performed at Burns Cottage earlier this year.

Caroline Kennedy, from Ayr, is a former pupil of Alloway Primary and Belmont Academy who is in her second year studying Scottish Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow.

Jamie McGeechan, of Ayr, and the Post’s ‘Little Fire’ has had a passion for Burns since his childhood, thanks to his teacher, Mrs Pettigrew at Ayr Grammar School.

He won the Battle of the Bands earlier this year in Ayr.

Julie Tipping, from Kilbirnie, is a teacher who has sung at many Burns Suppers and has a long and proven commitment to the works of Burns.

Joe Kennedy, from Kilmarnock, is past president of both Kilmarnock Burns Club and the Ayrshire Association of Burns Clubs, and has served as Heritage Convenor on the board of the Robert Burns World Federation.

Kate Mavor, chief executive of the National Trust for Scotland, said: “We are extremely proud of what we have achieved with the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.

“It is a world class visitor destination that will draw Burns enthusiasts from around the globe and it has set the standard for Trust properties for the future.

“We are looking forward to welcoming our first visitors and hope that they will take away an enriched learning of Burns and his work.”

Nat Edwards, director of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, added: “This has been a real labour of love for all involved and we’re absolutely delighted to open the doors to the new museum.

“Our aim is to provide a modern and relevant interpretation of Burns that will intrigue visitors of all ages, whether they are lifelong Burns enthusiasts or completely new to his work.

“Here you will not just be able to read the manuscript of Tam o’ Shanter, you can see the fireplace round which Burns first heard the stories that he turned into that poem.

“You can look out the window and see that landscape, places like the Kirk Alloway and Brig O'Doon where the poem takes place. It gives you every facet of the man and his work.”

Part of the museum space will play host to a series of temporary interpretations, with the inaugural exhibition being a major new showcase by renowned Ayrshire artist Peter Howson.

The exhibition, ‘Howson Burns: Revealed’, features 15 new portraits of Robert Burns which are on display and available to purchase from December 2010 to June 2011.