Montrose Burns Club

With the Burns memorial plaque at Rosemount, Montrose being carved by Adam Christie in 1930, the link between Montrose/Montrose Burns club with Shetland, due to Adam and his work and time at Sunnyside is strong.
So it was a pleasure and an honour to travel up to Shetland Friday 3rd May, to represent Montrose Burns club at the event for handing over the sculpture of Adam carved by Brian Wyllie, to the Christie family in Cunningsburgh.
Pat & Peter Christie and the wider Christie family, made us so welcome and they also took time to arrange a visit to the Lerwick Museum, to view Christie artefacts, some not normally on display - a very special visit indeed.
At the Friday night event using a presentation, I was very pleased to be able explain to the wider Christie family, our Burns club’s part in saving half the Christie collection of 22 figures which came up unexpectedly at auction in Montrose in March last year.
Saving those sculptures, then implementing a loan agreement with Montrose museum/Angusalive, allows for exhibiting the collection, and keeps it save and secure for the future.
It is important to note that there is scope written into that agreement for the collection to be loaned temporarily to Shetland museum, which will allow the Shetland community to see more of Adam’s work.

That evening, Dave Ramsay B.E.M. announced that he is setting up an Adam Christie foundation which will ensure that the body of work by Adam is formally collated/documented, detailing where each surviving piece is located - making this reference material available for all in the future.
Dave also revealed his new book on Adam Christie, is soon to be published. This takes in the next 40 years, after Dr Ken Keddie’s book on Adam - “The Gentle Shetlander” was published in 1984.

The evening with the Christie family was a joyous occasion with chat and music, and the hospitality of the Christie family was second to none.

The new permanent Robert Burns exhibition in Montrose museum opened today.
It is situated at the entrance to the museum, and at right angles to the Adam Christie exhibition. This makes a stunning heritage corner of the museum, and a great tribute to the working relationship between Emma Gilliland and her team at the museum, with Montrose Burns club.

There are a number of artefacts that connect to Montrose and the visit of Burns, and a selection of other items, the whisky connecting with the Customs and Excise role, and the 1896 centenary book.

Emma and her team should be congratulated on this new display.
Our club is very much aware of the benefits of the positive working partnership we have in place with Montrose museum.

On Friday 22nd March 2024, the Robert Burns Rosemount memorial was officially opened by our club President Andy Baxter, with around 50 supporters/donators in attendance - along with Neil McNair, President of the RBWF who cut the ribbon, Lord Lieutenant of Angus Mrs Pat Sawers and Brian Boyd Provost of Angus.
The gathering then retired to Links Park where a reception was held and the story of the memorial project and the new club website & Burns heritage trail was told, along with with musical renditions from Gary Anderson and Dave Ramsay. Peter Christie, the great nephew of Adam Christie also gave a talk on the connection with Adam’s life in Sunnyside and his homeland of Shetland.
The club is very appreciative to all those who supported and donated to the project and also to the website, montroseburnsclub.com and all have been acknowledged by name on the website. Without your help, we would not have been able to complete the project and put the website and Trail in place.
Crawford Architects; Brian Doig Builder Arbroath; Sunnyside Estate Ltd and Brian Wyllie sculptor, deserve a special mention - their combined support has resulted in a very special memorial which the public can now enjoy in the tranquility of Rosemount grounds.
Many thanks to you all! 👏

“Our monarch’s hindmost year but ane
Had five and twenty days begun
‘Twas then a blast o’ Janwar win’ blew Hansel in on Robin.

The post for the forthcoming Robert Burns Trail in the North East is now in position beside the grave of sculptor Adam Christie. Plaque with info and a QR code will be fitted this week for the launch of the trail.

Our new Burns heritage trail will be launched on our website on Friday the 22nd March. A very exciting event in the history of our club. Check out montroseburnsclub.com and click on Burns Trail.
12 points of interest in and around Montrose entitled Robert Burns Trail in the North East will lead visitors and locals around places connected to the great man himself.

HomePage - Montrose Burns Club Ah, Rabbie Burns! The name evokes images of kilts swirling in ceilidhs, the smoky warmth of a haggis supper, and the heartfelt crooning of “Auld Lang Syne” on

Here’s some great news for Montrose and its heritage.

The Brian Wyllie relief sculpture of Robert Burns, which was the subject of the recent Taylor's auction to raise funds for our club, has been secured at a local level in Montrose.

The sculpture has now been donated back to Montrose Burns club, who in turn have donated the sculpture on a loan basis, to form part of the MBC Adam Christie sculpture collection in Montrose Museum.
The donor wishes to remain anonymous.

The sculpture, along with another Burns linked item already on show - the 1707 imperial tankard, will soon be on permanent display in the museum.

The museum will soon become one of the sites (points of interest) of our Burns heritage trail, to be launched within a few weeks.

Montrose Burns club has now reached our funding target which allows us to pay for the new Burns Memorial at Rosemount & create and launch the Club Website montroseburnsclub.com
We will soon be launching the Burns Trail contained within the website.
We couldn't have completed all of this without the assistance of all who donated via Just-Giving and directly to the Club, and to the help in kind by many others.
We are so very grateful to you all, and we hope that you will enjoy visiting the memorial then travelling the Burns Trail in and around Montrose.
Thank you all 🙌

HomePage - Montrose Burns Club Ah, Rabbie Burns! The name evokes images of kilts swirling in ceilidhs, the smoky warmth of a haggis supper, and the heartfelt crooning of “Auld Lang Syne” on

Well done Sunnyside Estate!

It's Burns Nights - and did you know we have a Robert Burns Drive here at Sunnyside Estate?
But do you know why?

The answer is contained in the new cairn erected by Montrose Burns Club at Rosemount Woods commemorating Robert Burns' visit - and one of the reasons the cairn has been built using stone from the old Sunnyside building.

Find out more here >>
https://sunnysideestate.co.uk/new-burns-memorial-built-from-sunnyside-stone/

| Pert Bruce Construction Ltd

Some of the attendees at our wreath laying ceremony today. President Andy Baxter paid tribute to a Robert Burns and the legacy he left to the world. His works have been translated into over 40 languages. Andy finished by reciting a piece of Burns’ poetry. During the wreath laying ceremony Past President Tom Murray sang one of Burns’ very popular songs “My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose.

Happy birthday to our National Bard, Robert Burns. Born on the 25th of January 1759 and died 37 years later on 21 July 1796. 37 short years, but what a legacy you left behind - 350 songs, 400 poems and 600 letters.
Happy birthday Rabbie 🥃

The exhibition and set of talks over the weekend on Robert Burns held in Montrose Museum has just ended.
The weather was not the best, which gave challenges in setting up the exhibits and also for folk to get along to the museum, but we hope all who managed along enjoyed it.
Many thanks go to Dave Ramsay for being there each day to take questions and for giving his most informative talks on the bard - above and beyond Dave!
Thanks also go to Montrose museum/Angus Alive for hosting this event, and special thanks go to all the staff, including Meghann, Susan and Emma - our club very much appreciates all your hard work.

The annual wreath laying at the Burns Statue in Dean park will take place on Thursday 25th January at 12:00hrs.

Also coinciding with our National Bards birthday you will see the launch of the Montrose Burns Clubs website - montroseburnsclub.com
Initially the site will contain info and an overview of our club, this will be followed shortly with the publishing of a new Burns heritage trail in and around the Montrose area.

montroseburnsclub.com

Our incoming President, Andy Baxter received the jewel from outgoing president Tom Murray and presided over a very enjoyable festival in the Park Hotel Montrose, Friday 19th.
The multitalented Calum Campbell piped in the haggis, which was addressed vigourously by Ross Thomson.
Dave Ramsay gave a very fine immortal memory on Burns in Angus, with a local, national and international twist.
Anthony Baxter then gave an enlightening Auld Scotia on Scots and Scotland in the film industry over the years, including reference to his own works. Michelle Rodley provided the ladies & gents of the audience a super rendition of Dougie McLean’s Caledonia.
The lights were dimmed and past-president John Gordon then provided us with an atmospheric Holy Willie’s prayer.
To finish off, Gordon Shepherd toasted the lassies with great gusto, then sister-in-law Wendy Shepherd gave an equally robust reply, followed by some superb singing and playing by Calum.
Thanks go to Brian Wyllie sculptor, whose works on behalf of the club were on display on the night, and to the Park hotel (and Grace) for their great work in running the whole evening superbly well. It was also a pleasure to welcome along the ladies to add to our membership.
Aye, it was a fine nicht!

AUCTION OF ROBERT BURNS SCULPTURE - 5th FEB

Montrose Burns Club are delighted to have been gifted a new sculpture of our bard Robert Burns. This sculpture, in a side profile, has been carved from stone by a local Arbroath sculptor Brian Wyllie, who now resides at Pitmuies near Glamis in Angus.

This sculpture of Burns will be going under the hammer at Taylors Auction Rooms, Montrose at a fine art sale, 10am on 5th February 2024. It will be the first lot of the sale. We have set a reserve price of £480 and an estimate of £500 to £700 on the sculpture for the sale.

Prior to the auction, Taylors will upload details of it to their own website as well as 2 specialist websites. The 2 other websites will be the live bidding platforms on the day, they do have charges – EasyliveAuction.com is a £3 registration fee; the-saleroom.com is 6% on the hammer price. There are links to both on the Taylors website & it is just a case of creating an account & registering for a sale – fairly straightforward. Alternatively, people can do phone bids, leave commission bids or bid in person at the Auction room.

Address & Contact details for the auction -
Taylor's Auction Rooms
Brent Avenue
Montrose
Angus
DD10 9PB
Tel: 01674 672775
Website: www.taylors-auctions.com

The proceeds of the sale will go to assist with the funding for the new Burns Memorial at Rosemount, Montrose, and the creation of the Montrose Burns Club website & Burns Heritage Trail around Montrose. We hope to have the website up and running before our club Burns festival/supper on 19th Jan.
We will be publicising the sale via the Robert Burns World federation, our page – Montrose Burns Club, and also through press and media and to our Montrose Burns club membership.

Detail of the Sculptor and the Burns sculpture -
The Burns sculpture which Brian created in Nov/Dec 2023, is from a block of red sandstone which came from surplus material Brian used when re-roofing the Duke of Sutherland's Doocot on the Duke’s estate at Mertoun Estate, near St Boswells in the Borders.
The work measures 46cm high by 34cm wide and 7cm deep. The work took approximately seven weeks to complete.
Brian has stylised this work on Alexander Nasmyth’s famous painting of Burns, making a template as a starting point for his sculpture.
Brian’s interest in stone carving started when a friend introduced him to our local history of the Pitcs, here in Angus. Examples being the class 1 & 2 Pictish stones at St Vigeans, Dunnichin, Glamis and Aberlemno. Brian started to carve stone in that style.
Montrose Burns club member, Dave Ramsay of Catterline, a heritage and Burns enthusiast, befriended Brian in the early 2000s, and asked him to carve a stone head in the likeness of a work of Adam Christie (the Gentle Shetlander). This carved head now sits at the grave of Adam in Sleepyhillock cemetery Montrose.
After recently completing two (bust) sculptures - one in the style of Adam Christie, which now sits in the inglenook of our new Burns memorial at Rosemount and the other a likeness of Adam which will be sited in Shetland next year, Brian has now completed his latest work - this side profile sculpture of our bard Robert Burns.
Brian’s work is fantastic and we are so lucky to have him creating such beautiful work on our behalf.
The inclusion of the Christie bust within our new Burns memorial, is a link to Adam Christie who carved the stone plaque in 1930, which commemorates the visit by Robert Burns who stopped to water his horse at that spot on his way to Montrose town, in 1787 while on his Highland Tour .
Adam, a Shetlander from Cunningsburgh, was a patient at the nearby Sunnyside mental institution for over 50 years, until his death in 1950, and was a prolific sculptor, artist, poet and fiddler-maker, throughout his time there.

Robert Burns exhibition – Montrose Museum 19th to 22nd January -
The Burns sculpture which Brian Wyllie has created along with the bust of Adam Christie, destined for Shetland, are to be displayed at our forthcoming Burns festival 19th Jan 2024.
Both works will also be a part of a Robert Burns exhibition which is being held by Angus Alive, in conjunction with Montrose Burns club at Montrose Museum from 19th to 22nd Jan 2024. Dave Ramsay shall be giving talks each day on Burns life and works.

A Robert Burns exhibition – Montrose Museum 19th to 22nd January 2024 -

Montrose Burns Club in conjunction with AngusAlive is holding an exhibition on Robert Burns in Angus, to be held in Montrose Museum 19th to 22nd Jan.

Entrance to exhibition is free and there will be talks (for a small fee) each afternoon by Dave Ramsay on Burns life and travels in Angus.
Details of talks and times are available on the AngusAlive links and website.

Also on display will be the Burns sculpture, which Brian Wyllie has recently created, and is to be auctioned at Taylors Auction rooms 10am on 5th Feb.

The exhibition will also have the bust of Adam Christie on display, which Brian carved from Sunnyside stone, and which is destined for Shetland later this year.

https://angusalive.scot/events/robert-burns-life-works-legacy-angus-talk/

Montrose Burns Club are now working on the construction of a website. Whilst the website will contain information relating to the club itself it will also contain the details of a Robert Burns Trail. The great Bard visited Montrose in 1787 whilst on a Highland tour with his companion William Nicol. Several points of interest and connections to Montrose and his family that lived here were made on that visit. The trail will have POI's identified with small plaques, which will link back to the new website where all the relevant information will be held.
Exciting times for the club and the area in general as this will be the first tourist trail focussed on Burns in the North East.
Please keep an eye on this page for further details of the website launch.

Exciting times for Montrose Burns Club!
With funding in place we have now started the design and build of our website, which as well as sharing info about our club, it will host a tourist trail of Robert Burns.
Burns toured the North East of Scotland and visited his family here in Montrose. Many Points Of Interest exist here in Montrose and along the route he took down through the North East of Scotland. The website will be pivotal in hosting the trail and sharing the information for the Points Of Interest on it.
Keep an eye on this page for further updates or if you have any enquiries or information that may assist us the please contact us on [email protected]

Hi everyone, its great to see that more people are visiting our page and taking time to view what our club has been doing.

Great news on the fund raising front - thanks to all you good people who have donated, we have reduced the total required to pay off the cost of the new memorial at Rosemount. The current sum we have to find has reduced to £6,000.

Our application to the Montrose Common Good fund via the Angus council has been successful and we were awarded a grant for a percentage to the memorial and also to our website & Burns Trail.
We hope to have the website up and running soon and a QR coded sign shall soon be installed at the memorial, which will allow you to access background information to that site.

SeaGreen and Arbikie distillery have also been generous and their donations, along with the CGF grant, reduces the deficit on the memorial balance and also allows us to go ahead with the design and implementation of the club website and the Burns trail, which will allow you the public to follow the sites associated with Robert Burns in and around Montrose.

Our club is so grateful for this support, but we are also very grateful to all others who have also donated. Each donation is very much appreciated! 😁

If you have not yet donated and are thinking of doing so, then please do - you can get in touch via the email address on this page, or you can donate through our Just-Giving page via the link on this page.

Many thanks to you all - we could not have achieved this without you. 👏

The construction of the memorial is now complete and what a fine sight it is!
Our Club continues to seek donations to cover the total costs. Pleasa donate via our just-giving page.
Thanks to all who have already donated 😄👍

The opening event for the Adam Christie (The Gentle Shetlander) exhibition on Friday 15 Sept was very well attended.
Two of Adam’s descendants, (Pat and Peter Christie) travelled down from Shetland especially for the event.
The collection of head sculptures by Adam Christie was saved by Montrose Burns club back in March when 22 came up unexpectedly for auction.
MBC managed to saved half the collection and we have collaborated with Angus Alive/Montrose museum, who are now managing the collection on our behalf. A great arrangement indeed!
Also unveiled was a bust of Adam, newly carved from Sunnyside stone by Brian Wyllie of Pitmuries. This bust will be kept in Shetland.
The museum exhibit is definitely worth a visit!

I went up this morning to show Pat and Peter Christie from Shetland the Rosemount cairn this morning. (they are descendants of Adam Christie and were in Montrose for the Adam Christie event at the Museum).

I was delighted to see that the coping stones are now fitted and the memorial is completed.

We are sure you’ll agree, what a beautiful job Brian Doig has made, it is fantastic - truly excellent work!

Pat commented that the back of the cairn is shaped in the style of the broch on Mousa, another fine link to Shetland!
The head sculpture in the cairn, carved by Brian Wyllie, is in the style of Adam Christie who carved the Burns plaque - and no, it’s not supposed to look like Robert Burns 😂.

We are all very impressed indeed by the design and the high standard of workmanship of the memorial.
It’s great to have the construction completed - we now have to close the the funding gap to enable the club to pay for the work - please donate to our Just-Giving page to help us do so!
Thank you.

Hi folks, our last Just-Giving page expired unexpectedly. We appreciate every donation made to that page.
However Montrose Burns club still need to fill the funding gap, so we’ve created this new page.
If you haven’t donated previously, we will be very grateful if you can now. Thank you on behalf of our club!
Just click on this link -

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/david-clark-330

Hello Folks, we have just been informed today that our Montrose Burns club Just-Giving page expired yesterday. This was beyond our control and apologise to anyone who has been trying to donate to that page.
We are currently working to create another Just-Giving page as soon as we can. If you have seen the excellent publicity this week on the Club activities and wish to donate, don’t worry, the new Just-Giving page will be up and running very soon. Sorry for that wee glitch.
A page’s a page for a’ that.

An article from the Courier. It gives an update on the Clubs memorial project.

Here’s a wee update on the Burns memorial project - yesterday, Monday 10 July, Tom Murray our President along with Dave Ramsay one of the coordinators of this project met with Dale from Tay FM.
Dale contacted our club as he was keen to understand more on the history of the plaque and the story on why we are moving it to conserve it.
The link contains footage of the meeting held at Rosemount.

https://twitter.com/RadioTayNews/status/1678423637248864256?s=20

A big thank you to Dale for getting in touch and for helping promote this project, it was much appreciated.

To those others who have now gained access to our story to preserve this important piece of heritage, you can still donate, either through our Just-Giving page - full details on this page, or by emailing us on the address provided on the page.
Many thanks👍

Radio Tay News on Twitter “🧱A Robert Burns memorial is under construction in Montrose to preserve a historic plaque 👨‍🎨It includes a bust of Burns in the style of Adam Christie, the origional sculptor 🎥Our reporter spoke to Dave Ramsay and Tom Murray from Montrose Burns Club to find out more”

A big thank you to all who have already donated to our Rosemount memorial fund. All donations are very much appreciated.
Each donation will help us get ever closer to the full amount we require to cover the costs of this project. To those who are still thinking of donating - please do, as we are still a long way short of our target. Brian Doig our builder, is continuing the construction and will finish very soon - The quality of his work is fantastic. The sculpture carved by Brian Wyllie, in the style of Adam Christie now sits above the plaque. Adam engraved the Burns plaque back in 1930, before it was placed in its first resting place in the wall over the road from the new memorial site. I’m sure you’ll agree that it all looks terrific!!

Our Just-Giving page is still open to take donations, all of which great or small are gratefully accepted!

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/david-clark-330?utm_term=9G2GZWPwK

Watch this space - as we are developing our MBC website which will include details of the Burns trail which you will be able to visit in and around Montrose. This is also subject to gaining the necessary funding.

Thanks for the support!!