Glasgow And District Burns Association No 169 Burns Federation
In the year 1897, just 100 years after the death of Robert Burns the Association was founded and immediately joined the Federation.
The Association exists to encourage and promote the study and performance of the Bard's works and to promote charitable ventures under his name.
The Bridgeton Burns Club, Glasgow Haggis Club, The Sandyford Burns Club, The Glasgow Masonic Burns Club, Royalty Burns Club, Rutherglen Burns Club and The Cumbernauld Burns Club at present make up the Association.
Our charitable ventures include helping with the running and maintenance of The Jean Armour Houses in Mauchline and assisted in the refurbishment of the Castle Street properties in Mauchline which now forms the Burns Museum.
For more information on these properties and an update on the museum which was handed over to East Ayrshire Council see news.
The Association owns many valuable and irreplaceable items including The Gilbert May stamp collection which is held in trust by The Mitchell Library featuring stamps with a Robert Burns theme.
The Association has a long history of which it is very proud and has been at the forefront of many celebrations throughout the years. See also
Burns and Glasgow for an account of a the George Square Statue and the Chairs in the Cathedral.
The Bridgeton Burns Club No 49 Burns Federation
This is one of the oldest and most active Burns Clubs with a national and international reputation. It was formed in 1870 by a Bridgeton shop keeper who invited three of his cronies to a supper prepared by his wife on the 25th January that year to celebrate the birth of Robert Burns.
From this small beginning a club was formed with two major aims, the first to hold a supper on the 25th January each year, the second to promote the work of Burns in verse and song by organising a competition for school-children in the East End of Glasgow
Click on this link for a fuller history of this club
My page on Bridgeton Burns Club
BBC's own web site
Glasgow Haggis Club No 33 Burns Federation
The Haggis Club was founded in 1872 and has gone from strength to strength supporting both the Glasgow and District Burns Association and the Burns Federation. Our membership is restricted to 100 members and our President, elected annually, chooses interesting speakers from all walks of life and business to talk on a great variety of subjects for the members' interest and entertainment. In addition our talented membership provides excellent entertainment at each of our gatherings. Our club has no serious aims apart from that the membership enjoys the meetings of the company found there, or in the long since written words of our Bye-Laws, having for its' object the social intercourse and enjoyment of its' members. We hear much of the work of the Glasgow and District Burns Association and a number of our members are active therein. The Clubs' principal charitable aim is in support of the Association's work in running the Jean Armour Burns Houses at Mauchline.
Our Annual Dinner is the highlight of our year being a formal Burns Supper. With the lassies present! They frequently chastise us for our chauvinist winter Tuesday evenings! Bless 'em.
Our spring outing in 2008 went to Inverary Castle where we met the current Duke of Argyll and enjoyed a splendid tour of the Castle. Here are President Charlie Newlands, the members, and the Duke, all enjoying the Spring sunshine.
The Sandyford Burns Club No 68 Burns Federation
A towmond a trouble should that be my fa'
A night o guid fellowship soothers it a'
The clubs' motto is taken from the poem "Contented Wi Little and Cantie Wi Mair" written by Burns ninety-nine years before the club's foundation in 1893. Burns admirers and appreciators in the Sandyford district of Glasgow had been circulated and invited to attend a public meeting called by John McDougall, then the master of the St. Vincent Sandyford Masonic Lodge. At the meeting McDougall was invited to chair the new club which then embarked on an almost unbroken run of annual dinners and other social events with the express purpose of Guid Fellowship which have raised large sums of money for benevolent purposes.
The club continues to flourish and the recent introduction of a Burns Study Night once a year in September has augmented the ever popular annual anniversary dinner and Halloween dance. The sporting aspects are maintained with the golf outings.
Click on this link for minutes of the A.G.M. of this club
Sandyford Burns Club
The Glasgow Masonic Burns Club No 263 Burns Federation
Toward the end of the First World War, several well known Masonic Brethren lamented the fact that there was no Masonic Burns Club in the City as a token to the strong association which our National Bard, Robert Burns, had enjoyed with the Craft, not only in Tarbolton, Mauchline, and Dumfries, but in many other towns in Scotland.
At that time there were already several well-established Burns Clubs within the City and surrounding districts with whom Masons were associated and naturally there were some misgivings that such a new venture might not receive the support it's sponsors expected.
However, the idea bore fruit with the result that on 31 st January, 1919, a number of Brethren from various lodges met in the Bath Hotel to consider the proposal. In the absence of Sir John Ure Primrose, Bart., who was the first Honorary President, the chair was taken by Bro. J. S. Jamieson ( Lodge St. John No. 3 bis) who, having outlined the purpose of the meeting, called upon Bro. Charles S. Dougall, MA., Rector of Dollar Institute, to give an address on Burns and Freemasonry.
Click on this link for a fuller history of this club
Glasgow Masonic Burns Club
Royalty Burns Club No 9 Burns Federation
The Glasgow Royalty Burns Club was formed by a number of Glasgow Publicans forgetherin in a pub in Hope Street in 1882. In 1886 they became No.9 in the Roll of the Burns Federation which was instituted in 1885. Meetings were on the last Thursday of the month from October to March and by 1893 were being held in the Alexandra Hotel, Bath Street with 60 members. They now meet in the Albany Hotel. The Royalty is a charity whose aims are primarily to promote the works of Burns and the history of Scotland and Scots.
The annual fund raising events such as Smoker, St. Andrew's Dance and Burns Supper have, over the years, had the support of the Brewers, Distillers, Publicans and other suppliers to the Licenced Trade. There are regular donees' such as The Erskine Hospital, The Jean Armour Homes
and many other needy causes. The most recent project to be funded is the Burns for Bairn's books in schools which was started by the President, Andrew Wilson, who has visited over 100 primary schools in and around Glasgow donating 30 Burns for Bairn's books and other literary and audio resources on Scots to each school. This has resulted in increasing interest in Burns in the schools and also in entries to Burns competitions. This project will continue into the Millennium.
Rutherglen Burns Club No 642 Burns Federation
Each year Rutherglen Burns Club has an interesting and varied programme, with speakers, singers and musicians taking part. This takes place on 2nd Monday of each month from October to April in Rutherglen Old Parish Church. A Burns Supper in January and an outing in May by coach to places with a Burns connection is also organised.
The Cumbernauld Burns Club No 581 Burns Federation
Cumbernauld and District Burns Club was born in the summer of 1943, formed in the shadow of the Blitz by a few evacuees who had been forced from their Clydebank homes by the German bombs, to the then tiny and rural village of Cumbernauld.
The club immediately joined the Burns Federation and was allocated Roll No. 581.
Sadly none of those founder members are still alive today, but the Club continued to grow in strength over the next two decades. In the early 1970's the Club was put in abeyance although a handful of members met each year on the 25th January to commemorate the birth of the Bard.
Originally a maximum membership was set at 37, a number determined by the age at which Burns died, but the interest in the Club was so great and the membership waiting list so long, that gradually the membership was increased to its' present 65. It is a measure of popularity of the Club that it has members not only from Kilsyth, Glasgow, Kirkintilloch and Motherwell, but also one from as far away as Lochwinnoch and there still exists a waiting list to join.
The Club meets five times per year in the Roadside Hall in Cumbernauld Village not far from where it was first formed. As well as commemorating the birth of Burns in January and St. Andrew's night in November, there are regular meetings in March, June and October.
The Club is committed to encouraging an interest in the works of the Bard by children, and to this end they organise a Children's competition each year.
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