Willie to honour Scotland's bard at events in Caithness and Sutherland

Local councillor Willie Mackay is gearing up for his latest series of engagements honouring Robert Burns.

Willie, of Oldhall, Watten, has been an admirer of Scotland's national bard for some 25 years. He will be involved in five events in Caithness and Sutherland this year.

"We are poised once again to celebrate the life, sadly short as it was, of Robert Burns," he said.

"There is no doubt Caithness does Rabbie proud and has done so for years. Lots of lunches and suppers are being organised all over the county.

"For myself, I will be attending three events in Caithness and two in Sutherland. I'll be doing the famous satire once again, the 101 lines of Holy Willie's Prayer, and addressing the haggis."

Burns celebrations are held annually in Scotland and internationally around January 25, the date of his birth in Alloway, Ayrshire, in 1759.

"Traditional suppers would offer up Scots broth, haggis, neeps and tatties followed by perhaps cranachan and a dram for the toast," said Willie, who represents Wick and East Caithness on Highland Council.

"As for the speakers, we would have a chairperson to do formal introductions, someone to address the haggis and someone to do the Immortal Memory, then a Toast to the Lassies and a reply from a lady.

"Coupled with this, a few Burns songs, some poetry and pipe music all go down well and make the evening a jovial one."

Willie added: "There is a great variety of light-hearted speakers in the county and it's good to see the younger generation getting involved in making the evening an enjoyable one of which we can be rest assured Burns himself would be proud of."

The first Burns supper was held in 1801 by nine of the bard's friends, five years after his death in 1796 at the age of 37.

Burns came from a humble background, growing up with the hard manual labour of farming. He began to write poetry at the age of 15.

His first collection of 612 poems, at the age of 27 – mainly in Scots dialect – sold out in the first month.

Burns wrote the words to the world's most famous New Year anthem, Auld Lang Syne, which roughly means "in remembrance of old times".

Willie will begin his latest series of events at a pensioners' lunch in the Pulteney Centre, Wick, on Wednesday, January 24. The following day he will be attending a lunch for residents of Pulteney House care home, also in Wick, before appearing at a charity Burns supper on Friday 26th in Carbisdale Castle.

Willie will be at a Burns supper in his native Embo on Saturday, January 27, then another one for the Monday Club being held at the rugby club pavilion in Thurso on Monday 29th.

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