Robert BurnsLimited World Federation Limited www.rbwf.org.uk 1971 The digital conversion of this Burns Chronicle was sponsored by Denise Shaw The digital conversion service was provided by DDSR Document Scanning by permission of the Robert Burns World Federation Limited to whom all Copyright title belongs. www.DDSR.com ROBERT BURNS CHRONICLE 1971 THE BURNS FEDERATION Kll,MARNOCK Price 7s. 6d.-Paper bound: 12s. 6d.--Cloth bound: Price to Non-Members lOs.-Paper bound: 15s.--Cloth bound. 'BURNS CHRONICLE' ADVERTISER Scotch as it used to be BURNS CHRONICLE BURNS CHRONICLE AND CLUB DIRECTORY INSTITUTED 1891 PUBLISHED ANNUALLY THIRD SERIES: VOLUME :XX THE BURNS FEDERATION KILMARNOCK 1971 Printed by William Hodge & Company Limited Glesgow LIST OF CONTENTS PAGE Junior Burns Chronicle Scott on Bums by Donald A. Low.. 14 Jean Armour Bums Houses, Mauchline by Andrew Stenhouse 20 President of Burns Federation Visits Australia and New Zealand: Dan Down Under by D. J. Mclldowie 21 James Currie: The How of It by Robert D. Thornton 31 Golden Jubilee of The Scottish Bums Club 44 Bums Federation Honours Mr. Thos. W. Dalgleish, O.B.E., by Alex MacMillan 45 Sir Walter Scott by Charles C. Easton, F.S.A., Scot. 48 Tam o' Shanter Rides Again 72 Book Review . 74 Obituary: Mr. Thos. W. Dalgleish, O.B.E. 75 Auguste Angellier, Translation by Jane Burgoyne 77 The Burns Federation- (a) List of Hon. Presidents, Hon. Vice-Presidents, Executive Committee, Office-bearers and District Representatives, Sub-committees, Auditors and Associate Members . 116 (b) List of Past Presidents 121 List of Places at which the Annual Conferences of the Council have been held . 122 (c) Constitution and Rules 123 (d) List of Districts 128 (e) Minutes of the Annual Conference, 1970, incorpor­ ating the Hon. Secretary's Report, Financial Statement, Burns Chronicle and Schools Competi- tions reports . 136 (/) Club Reports . 154 (g) Numerical List of Clubs on the Roll 192 (h) Alphabetical List of Clubs on the Roll 221 ILLUSTRATIONS Mrs. Jane Burgoyne, M.A., President, Bums Federation frontispiece Gift to Mr. T. W. Dalgleish, O.B.E. facing page 32 'A link wi' Ayr' facing page 33 Mr. John Gray as Robert Bums facing page 64 Mr. Bob Kellie as Tam o' Shanter facing page 65 EDITORIAL NOTE The Burns Federation does not accept responsibility for statements made or opinions expressed in the Burns Chronicle. Writers are responsible for articles signed by them: the Editor undertakes responsibility for the Junior Burns Chronicle and all unsigned matter. Manuscripts for publication should be addressed to the Editor and each must be accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. The Editor cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage. JAMES VEITCH. NEWBIGGING, TWEEDSMUIR, BIGGAR, LANARKSHIRE. Mrs. JANE BURGOYNE, M.A. Pres ident , Burns Federation JUNIOR BURNS CHRONICLE The Junior Burns Chronicle is now in its seventh year. If you are a new reader, let me add that it is for all young people who have not yet reached the ripe old age of eighteen. This means that it is not intended for adult readers and they are requested to move on to their own section. Assuming we have got rid of them, boys and guls, I hope that, if you are interested in Scotland, its traditions, its literature, its songs and its language, you will find something to appeal to you in these pages. Apart from anything else, remember, there are competitions. with worth-while prizes to be won. To start off with, then, do you know who wrote the following verses? I am only asking, so no prizes are offered for knowing the answer! TIME TO RISE A birdie with a yellow bill Hopped upon th~ window sill, Cocked his shining eye and said: 'Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!' LOOKING FORWARD When I am grown to man's estate I shall be very proud and great~ And tell the other girls and boys Not to meddle with my toys. A 2 JUNIOR BURNS CHRONICLE FROM A RAILWAY CARRIAGE Faster than fairies, faster than witches Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches; And charging along like troops in a battle, All through the meadows the horses and cattle: All of the sights of the hill and the plain Fly as thick as driving rain; And ever again, in the wink of an eye, Painted stations whistle by. Here is a child who clambers and scrambles, All by herself and gathering brambles; Here is a tramp who stands and gazes; And there is the green for stringing the daisies! Here is a cart run away in the road Lumping along with man and load; And here is a mill, and there is a river: Each a glimpse and gone for ever! If you do not know the famous Scot who wrote the above verses, you will find his name on page 13. AN ESSAY FROM ESKDALEMUIR Here is one lassie who kens her mither tongue. A pupil at Eskdalemuir Primary School, Langholm, she was little more than eleven years of age when she penned this little essay. A HERD By HELEN J. SCOTT Ma faither is a herd on a fairm in Eskdalemair. He ca's the yowes tae the knowes at nicht, an' in the morning he ca's them tae the bumside, whaur the heather growes. His twa dugs, Jock and Ben, JUNIOR BURNS CHRONICLE 3 trail efter him, but aince they hear his whussle, they scud efter him Jike the deil was at their tails. Jock is aye on the prowl for paitricks, whaups an' puddocks an' he juist hauls an' chows them. Then ma faither gits roused an' maks tae leather the dug. Jock juist gies faither a glower an' trails ahin aince mair. Faither gauns oot-bye an' gies a whussle an' the yowes, hoggies and toops mak' their wey <loon the braes. Wi' the screeching o' ma faither, the peesweeps an' wild duicks stairt awa' fair skreighing. Auld Ben is a guid dug an' sprackles efter the wee hoggies that sclimb the brae an geithers them in tae the buchts. Then faither comes awa' hame an' gies his dugs their parritch in a muckle pat. He takes his buits off afore he gits his denner o' kail, tatties an' neeps. As her 'personal tribute to Burns, his works and everything he stands for,' another young contri­ butor, a New Zealand girl, has sent us the following poem. TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT BURNS I see atween the fields of rye, A ploughman scanning with his eye, The plains of Ayr, the valley's lie, And from his toil, He takes his hand, looks to the sky, Then to the soil. His heart goes out to every flower, To every leaf and green thorn bower, And e'en his soil, tho' wet and sour, He tends with zeal, That God might grant him yet the power, To draw his yiel'. 4 JUNIOR BURNS CHRONICLE Mark now his head in thought inclined, As inspiration lends a line, Those fiery eyes now well defined, Are numbed with pain, As failure sweeps across his mind, Again, again. He guides Tam's jaunt, as to the Kirk, He rides where ghaists and houlets lurk, Where there amid the gloomy murk, Tam spies the Deil, And hags in their mischievous work, Gain poor Meg's tail. His songs are sung in every heart, In every love he takes a part, And every brook sings of his art, With bubbling glee, In every line from end to start, His quill flows free. But hush, the muffied bell tolls low, And men too late regret his woe, And near twelve thousand weep their sorrow, In Dumfries this day, As Scotia's earth prepares to swallow, Him unto her clay. While Time stands still with baited breath, And bows her head in time of Death, And Nature sadly lays her wreath, We too shall mourn, That never more upon this Earth, His light shall dawn. Let every brither Scot come forth, And praise their son for all his worth, And may they, each one, share his mirth, And laughter, And sing his songs from Firth to Firth For ever after. KAREN WATSON JUNIOR BURNS CHRONICLE 5 SIR WALTER SCOTT I do not have to tell you that birthdays, the mile­ stones of one's life, are great occasions-especially when one is young! But why such a fuss when we remember a man's birthday one hundred or two hundred years after he was born? The simple answer is, I suppose, that he did great things in his own lifetime and one hundred or two hundred years later seems as good a time as any to take a fresh look at the man. 1959 was the year in which we celebrated the bicentenary or, if you like, the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns. This year brings the bicentenary of Sir Walter Scott's birth, which is accepted as the l Sth of August, 1771. The pity is that Scott's novels are read only by the faithful and, as for his poems, only well-known passages are remembered nowadays. Scott himself said that when his first two or three works were published he felt exceedingly anxious to see the reviews, and hear how the world received him; but after that his curiosity or vanity died so much away that he never made the least attempt to see a review, and often never heard or saw a word that was said upon the subject. The truth is that Scott achieved such success that, as long as readers bought his works, he could well afford to ignore reviewers.