Latest news with #RobertBurns
Daily Record
7 days ago
- General
- Daily Record
Hamilton Burns Club marks Bard's anniversary with ceremony at historic statue
The statue in the Town House foyer was restored a decade ago after being lost during a refurbishment and relocated following an enquiry from the other side of the world A historic Robert Burns statue which was rediscovered a decade ago thanks to detective work from the other side of the world took pride of place at a celebration of the Bard in Hamilton. The sculpture of the Scots writer at Hamilton town house was at the centre of the annual wreath-laying ceremony by members of the Lanarkshire association of Burns clubs – led by Hamilton Burns Club president Colonel Mike Edwards OBE and World Burns Federation president Peter Pringle. It has been a key feature since being restored in 2015 to its prime spot in the foyer beside the town's library; after enquiries from an Australian politician led to the statue being unearthed from a basement after having been moved for renovation works and subsequently forgotten. Last weekend's rededication ceremony marked the 229th anniversary of Burns' death and also came just weeks before the 10th anniversary of the refurbished statue being restored to its prominent place in the A-listed town house. Hamilton Burns Club members welcomed fellow Lanarkshire members, supporters and past presidents for the annual moment of reflection, including a 'heartfelt' address from Mr Pringle and the playing of a lament by past president Stewart Carle, before the group made their way to nearby Hamilton Old parish church for a short service led by Rev Ross Blackman. A wreath was laid beside the statue by renowned Scottish sculptor William Birnie Rhind (1853–1933) – which was rediscovered after a enquiry from Gordon Ashley, a former member of the Victoria Parliament, who was researching a book on Burns memorials and asked: 'Whatever happened to the Hamilton Burns statue?' His query from 12,000 miles away reached local Burns clubs and South Lanarkshire Council, prompting an investigation with the result that 'to widespread surprise, the statue was located in council storage – intact and remarkably well-preserved'. Larkhall councillor Lesley McDonald recalls receiving a 2014 phone call from Mr Ashley about 'a 'missing' Burns statue last known to be in the care of South Lanarkshire Council' and said: 'After speaking with staff at Hamilton town house, the statue was found in the basement, wrapped in straw. It had been placed there years earlier during renovation works. 'It was clear the statue needed conservation. The then-council leader, Eddie McAvoy, agreed to fund 50 per cent of the restoration on the condition that the Lanarkshire Association of Burns Clubs raised the rest.' A fundraising concert featuring Burns enthusiasts from all over the country brought in the necessary sum of over £3000 and the statue was restored to its original condition by sculpture experts in Edinburgh. It was formally unveiled in its current prominent Town House spot by South Lanarkshire provost Eileen Logan on August 14 2015 – with special guest Mr Ashley travelling from Australia to attend the occasion as it was restored to public view. The statue was originally gifted to the people of Hamilton by the 4th Baronet of Earnock, Sir Derrick William Inglefield Inglefield-Watson; it was removed ahead of renovations at the Cadzow Street building between 2002 and 2004, being put into storage but had been uncatalogued and over time, 'slipped from civic memory'. Colonel Edwards said: 'The statue had been forgotten – but Burns, as ever, finds his way back. It's extraordinary that a question from across the globe could bring a piece of Hamilton's cultural soul back into the light. 'We were proud to lead this rededication and to celebrate the values the Bard stood for: equality, compassion, truth.' Mr Pringle agreed: 'Burns was a global citizen long before the phrase existed. That someone in Australia could be the spark for a Scottish town to reconnect with its heritage shows the reach of his words and spirit. Hamilton honoured him in fine style.' Hamilton Burns Club say the annual ceremony shows 'renewed pride for the region and its cultural heritage', and are inviting new members and supporters to join them. Colonel Edwards added: 'This isn't just about heritage; Burns speaks to our own times – about fairness, humour, and the power of words. We're inviting people of all ages and backgrounds to join us, whether they know every verse or just want to share good company.' The club's next major event is its annual anniversary dinner on Friday, January 23 2026, described as 'a vibrant evening of speeches, songs, and fellowship'. For tickets and enquiries, email secretary@ and all are welcome to attend.
Daily Record
18-07-2025
- Daily Record
Scottish city crowned best 'budget friendly staycation' destination - and it may surprise you
You don't need to leave the country to have a great holiday. A Scottish city has been named the best in the country for a "budget-friendly staycation". It was noted for its free attractions and safety. As living costs continue to rise, many Scots are foregoing international holidays in favour of more affordable staycations. According to SumUp, searches for 'cheap last minute holidays' have risen 44 per cent over the past month. In response, the experts have shared a list of the 10 best cities in the UK for a low-cost staycation. SumUp looked into cost-related metrics, as well as cultural and recreational amenities like museums and galleries. Topping the list for Scotland, and coming in at number two on the UK-wide roundup, is Edinburgh. The Scottish capital, which is often viewed as an expensive place to go, received an overall score of 60.85 out of 100. According to SumUp, Edinburgh is a "firm favourite for those seeking a staycation steeped in history and culture". The Scottish capital earned the highest score for museums—26 of them per 100,000 people—with the city home to the free National Museum of Scotland. Other popular free attractions in Edinburgh include the Museum of Childhood and The Writers' Museum. The Museum of Childhood features historic toys, games, clothes, books, and dolls, while The Writers' Museum is dedicated to Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. The experts also found that there are 15.92 art galleries per 100,000 people in Edinburgh. These include popular free attractions such as the National Galleries of Scotland and the City Art Centre. Edinburgh was also named as the safest in the ranking, achieving a safety score of 69 out of 100. According to SumUp, this makes it "an appealing choice for families and solo travellers alike". Meanwhile, the average cost of a meal in Edinburgh was found to be £15. The average price of a coffee and beer are £3.89 and £5.50, respectively, according to the experts. Elsewhere, Derry was named the best location in the UK for a budget-friendly staycation with an overall score of 71.32. The city performed particularly well in affordability, with the lowest average meal cost at just £10 and a pint setting punters back just £3.97 on average. Following Edinburgh in third place is Liverpool, which received a score of 58.39. Rounding out the top five are Preston and Belfast, with scores of 57.42 and 53.31, respectively. Product Marketing Lead at SumUp Corin Camenisch commented: "With an increased focus on domestic travel, as well as the cost-of-living crisis still being prevalent, we wanted to highlight the most cost-effective cities for a staycation in the UK. "Not only does this encourage budget friendly travel, but it also encourages local spending and supports local businesses due to extra traffic and tourism. "While some of the cities in our report are popular hotspots among tourists, we hope to shed insight on budget-friendly locations that can also provide memorable experiences that are rich in culture without breaking the bank." The full list of the top 10 cities in UK for budget-friendly staycation can be found below. More information can be found on the SumUp website. Derry Edinburgh Liverpool Preston Belfast Kingston upon Hull Nottingham Leicester Sheffield Stoke-on-Trent
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Council Chaos: Monroe City Council votes to replace mayor pro tem, holds no-confidence vote
MONROE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Tensions were high at Tuesday's Monroe City Council strategic meeting. The meeting started with a motion made by council member Julie Thompson to demote Mayor Pro Tem David Dotson and replace him with council member Surluta Anthony, effective at the start of their 6 p.m. regular meeting that followed. This sparked a heated back-and-forth with Thompson and Anthony targeting both Dotson and Mayor Robert Burns. Burns accused the other council members of unfairly targeting Dotson and himself when council member James Kerr allegedly cursed at Burns and threatened to fight Dotson. Monroe community divided over city's stance on ICE amid protests in Los Angeles Burns claims that Thompson and Anthony, along with two other council members, witnessed Kerr verbally attacking Dotson, and yet, Dotson and Burns are the only ones being targeted. Dotson claims that Kerr refuses to speak to him and bashed both the mayor and mayor pro tem in an email sent to someone critical of their views. Burns called the members' claims 'baseless' and said it reeks of 'selective accountability.' 'If David (Dotson) or I had acted this way, I could guarantee you, we would be facing serious consequences,' Burns said. Council member Franco McGee and Dotson questioned whether the discussion was about policy or position. Dotson argued that this move is based on political differences, as Dotson and Burns vote similarly on the board. He also added that this move gives the council member a political advantage ahead of the upcoming November election. 'I have not received a single warning or public criticism from this council, not for my public comments, not for my social media, not for failing to do my duties,' Dotson said. 'I give this council my full attention, and yet we're here to discuss my removal.' Ultimately, the council voted 4-3 to demote Dotson and promote Anthony to mayor pro tem. No-confidence vote The council then moved to its next item: to discuss a vote of no-confidence against Mayor Burns. The vote was requested by Council members Kerr and Thompson. They accused Burns of multiple things, including using city logos and addresses to share personal political views and failing to conduct civil meetings. But one of the major complaints made by the other members was that Burns allegedly failed to share information about new legislation, House Bill 3, which changes Monroe's municipal elections to even-numbered years and changes them from nonpartisan to partisan. Due to the passage of HB 3, Monroe will not hold municipal elections in 2025, and the current term of the mayor and council members has been extended by one year to align with the revised schedule. The next municipal election will be held in 2026, with candidate filing beginning on Dec. 1. A primary election will be held on March 3, 2026. Additionally, under the new law, candidates must now run with a political party affiliation. Burns stresses that he was on a family trip when he was notified of HB 3 by the city manager, along with the other council members, and had no prior knowledge of the legislation. He assured that he had no role in its creation and that the claims made against him are 'absurd.' Burns also defended his use of city logos and addresses to share personal political views, claiming he did not violate the city's policy because he used a disclaimer. He says that the 'selective retaliation' from the board is an abuse of power and that it goes against his right to free speech. 'No one is taking away your free speech right. Create another page and post away — have at it, do what you want. You have a right to do that. No one is doing that,' Thompson argued. 'This is about political platform views for you and political expediency, and it's not about the citizens of Monroe… I just want them (the people of Monroe) represented fairly.' Thompson further accused Burns of being the one who made this situation political and created division amongst the council. This is not the first time the mayor and other Council members have been at odds. Last year, Burns was censured for comments he made praising the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 'I am unashamedly pro-life, from the womb to the tomb,' Burns said Tuesday. 'And I will use my title, and I will use everything that I have to be able to speak for those that do not have a voice.' He emphasized that he's always had a disclaimer on his social media and letters that his views were his own and don't reflect the council's views as a whole. Dotson argues that this action is a resolution, not a censure, and that by censuring Burns, they'll be censuring everyone who supports and shares his views. 'When you chill his voice by saying you followed the rules, but we don't like what you're saying, you chill their voice as well,' Dotson said. The council voted 5-2 in favor of a no-confidence motion against Burns. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Otago Daily Times
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Arts fellows field questions
PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON About 100 people gathered in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on Saturday to fire questions at the 2025 University of Otago Arts Fellows. Answering questions from attendees are (from left) The Robert Burns Fellow Dr Octavia Cade, Mozart Fellow Dr Simon Eastwood, Frances Hodgkins Fellow Reece King, The Otago College of Education Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence Samantha Montgomerie, and The Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance Dr Carol Brown. The group all answered questions on a range of topics about what they had been doing in their fellowships and about their specialties.
Times
10-07-2025
- Times
Why foodies should flock to this underrated corner of Scotland
Most people reckon the west coast of Scotland starts at the Clyde, northeast of Glasgow, and that once the motorways, trains or planes have rushed you over the river it's only there that you need to slow down, wind down the window and take in the view. The islands, the lochs, the mountains … that's what you come to Scotland for, right? So you have to work hard to persuade people to turn left at Gretna Green and head to the southwest instead, or to ask a Glasgow taxi driver to head south. After all, only 8 per cent of visitors to Scotland choose this area, Ayrshire or Dumfries & Galloway, according to recent figures from the tourist board Visit Scotland. But if you reach the coast here, all you can do is wonder why so few. There's Alloway, the pretty village on the outskirts of Ayr where Robert Burns was born and which was the setting for his poem Tam o' Shanter. It's also where the road meets the sea, the lowland hills rolling along behind you. It feels so fertile here — lobster pots bob about amid the waves; sheep and cows wander everywhere; the famous Ayrshire tatties are harvested from fields on the shoreline. We reach Ballantrae, the road curling up away from the coast into the woodland that surrounds Glenapp Castle, a 19th-century baronial pile that is now a wistfully romantic 17-bedroom hotel. This is where Winston Churchill is thought to have drawn up plans for D-Day with General Eisenhower, who was staying up the road in Culzean Castle. And it's where the owner Paul Szkiler has drawn up his own plans to invade the Scottish food scene. In the walled garden of the 36-acre estate, a short stroll from the castle along a path colonnaded by hornbeams, sits a 150ft-long Victorian glasshouse, the streams from natural springs converging beneath it. There is a new trend of creating dining 'experiences' sweeping Scotland — the Seed Store on the banks of the River Dye in Aberdeenshire; the platform of Kyle of Lochalsh railway station on the northwest coast, various other greenhouse restaurants and outdoorsy chefs cooking on fire. Szkiler, who took over Glenapp in 2015 when it was treading water as a business, has tried three times before to open a restaurant in this building, but for various reasons it hasn't quite worked. In hiring Peter Howarth as the hotel's executive chef, I think he's struck gold. In his new Azalea restaurant, Howarth served me my favourite meal of the decade, with not one bum note. • 16 of the most beautiful places in Scotland On our first evening, my partner and I had dined in the main restaurant in the castle, where Howarth's cooking reveals his ambition to win a Michelin star; he has worked in kitchens bearing them at Gidleigh Park in Devon and Pennyhill Park in Surrey. There is an eight-course tasting menu that changes daily (£135pp); this night it featured langoustine with salsify, red wine, bulgar wheat and apple; cod poached in olive oil with Girvan crab and redcurrants; duck with carrot dashi and five spice. It's disciplined cooking: delicious, grown-up, good looking. Down at the Azalea, Howarth has undone his top button. The dishes are less formal but just as imaginative (mains from £28). We had a simple grilled fillet of west coast mackerel with spiced aubergine and chilli and garlic oil; garden pea risotto with truffles (yes, they do find truffles on the estate, but they won't tell you where); baked lobster with coriander, ginger and lime; chicken with wild mushroom, asparagus and tarragon; onion and fennel tarte with summer vegetables. You can sip the daily mocktail dreamt up by the manager Jen Scanlon on her morning walks through the herb garden — or let her choose for you from the clever wine list. We return for a Sunday lunch of chicken liver parfait with brioche and cultured butter, and rolled Galloway sirloin with a cauliflower cheese featuring golden raisins and crispy onions, then go for a walk in an attempt to make room for a pudding of champagne and rhubarb trifle. We bump into Howarth wandering the grounds, a quizzical look on his face. 'I know it's here somewhere,' he says distractedly. 'Sweet woodruff. It's a bit early in the year but I can smell it. It's my favourite flavour in the world. I want to put it in a panna cotta. I'll find it.' • Read our full guide to Scotland Rather than plan his menus a few days in advance, Howarth is thinking a full year ahead, planning what to grow for next summer's dishes before a seed is even sown. 'It wasn't about the restaurant for me, at first,' he says. 'It was about building a relationship with the garden, with the gardeners.' His cooking bursts with everything we see as we potter between the beds — 37 varieties of fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers. Like the glasshouse, much of the Glenapp estate remains as it was when it was established as the seat of the Earl of Inchcape in the 1870s (it reopened as a hotel in 2000). It doesn't have a bar as such, just mostly local staff who will bring you whatever you need whenever you ask for it. That sets the tone of the place. It's like coming to a generous (and unbelievably wealthy) friend's country house for an indulgent weekend. There is no pool or spa, but there are gardens and woodland walks among some of the tallest trees in Scotland, archery and croquet on the lawn, and stargazing untinged by light pollution. • 12 of the best places to visit in Scotland Inside, the furnishings are rich and heavy — dated perhaps, but to the right date for the architecture. The rooms have huge windows, offering magnificent views across the Firth of Clyde to the soulful outcrop of Ailsa Craig and the Isle of Arran beyond, or deep into the woods. In the library there are deep leather sofas to sink into, and shelves packed with heavyweight tomes of history, biography and poetry — but also Jilly Cooper and Tom Clancy, and board games aplenty. Glenapp has a lengthy list of excursions, from foraging walks and falconry to fishing in the Forth of Clyde with a sea eagle — Ripley flies between the shore and the boat — to a two-day sea safari on the hotel's motorboat, staying in a luxury tented camp on the island of Jura. It also has strong links with Kitchen Coos & Ewes, an experience based on a 900-acre tenant livestock farm high on the hill overlooking Luce Bay, near Stranraer. It's a half-hour's drive south through the greater estate and along the shore of Loch Ryan. The landscape here is windswept and wild, with dry stone walls, long grass and stones. There are the remains of an Iron Age settlement in one of the pastures. It's exactly where Highland cattle should be, what they're built for. • These are my favourite almost-secret beauty spots in Scotland 'Most farmers set up petting zoos to diversify, but that's not something that appeals to us,' says Neale McQuistin, the owner, whose family have links to the farm dating back 400 years. 'So instead of shutting the cows in or tethering them up for people to see them, we shut the people in and invite the cows to come and have a look.' We climb into a trailer towed by a Massey Ferguson 35 tractor bought by McQuistin's father in 1965 for £450 — 'He could have bought a house for that,' his son says — and chunter up the track through the walled field to the top of the hill, the herd rousing themselves as we pass, plodding along behind us. At the summit we are ushered into a pen. 'Just let them come to you — they're an affectionate lot. They love a scratch and a stroke,' says Janet, Neale's wife, who calls her husband a newcomer because her family were here first, five generations before his. It's strange, this reversal of roles, the horned beasts lining up along the iron railings to look at us, to make their judgment. It makes you hold your breath. And once the boss of the herd reaches her decision — it's the girls who run the show — the heads pop over the bars, offering themselves up. 'No need to be gentle,' Neale urges. And we push our fingers into their rough, thick coats, scratch behind their ears, along their shoulders. They lean into us, and their sheer size and power — some weigh more than a tonne — is awesome. Afterwards, over homemade cream teas in what used to be the milking shed, McQuistin explains he wanted to diversify from cows and the sheep (Neale is one of Scotland's most successful breeders of Beltex, a variety prized for its meat) and build a business to pass on to the next generation. 'My great-great-grandfather had three sons. None of them travelled more than three miles to find his wife. I never wanted to be anything but a farmer, but that's not true for my three children. I wanted to create something to give to them that's easier to manage than farming.' Kitchen Coos & Ewes is now in the top 25 things to do in the whole of Scotland, according to Tripadvisor. It's a similar family affair at Glenapp. Szkiler and his wife Poppy, an actress turned noise abatement campaigner, are hands-on owners, having moved from London to Ballantrae. Howarth's wife is the breakfast chef; the manager, Scanlon's boyfriend, is a sous chef. Annmaree Mitchell, the castle's head gardener, has been there for 30 years, since she first took on the restoration as a student. 'You can't just be a hotel — you have to be a destination,' Szkiler says. 'You have to respect the effort your guests put in to reach you.' In all honesty, it's not that hard. You just need to know when to turn left. This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue Tim Gow was a guest of Visit Scotland ( Glenapp Castle ( which has B&B doubles from £353, and Kitchen Coos & Ewes ( which has tours from £24pp Do you have a favourite place in Scotland? Let us know in the comments
