About Our Club

Montrose Burns Club Overview

Scotland’s greatest poet, Robert Burns born on 25th January 1759, startled the world with a little book of verse in 1786.  He then went on to write song after song, verse upon verse and made his name immortal throughout the world.

  • He visited Montrose and surrounding areas to visit relatives in the Fatherland (Aberdeenshire).  Relatives of Burns lived in the town and one of his cousins stayed in Bow Butts and another at 186 High Street
  • A club commemorating the works and heritage of our national bard has been in existence in Montrose since 1909 when the first Festival was held by Montrose Burns Club (MBC) in the Central Hotel, Montrose and chaired by our inaugural president, Mr R.J. Muir H.M.I.S.
  • Early festivals in Montrose were held in the Central and the Star hotels. In more recent times our festival has been held in the Park Hotel. Our annual festival (Burns supper) attracts on average 100 members.
  • Our club is a not-for-profit organisation and is constituted.
  • Our club is affiliated to the Robert Burns World Federation (RBWF) – Federation number 242.
  • MBC shares the pride of all Montrosians in our fine statue of Robert Burns which was erected in 1912 and unveiled by Andrew Carnegie.
  • Burns visited Montrose when he travelled down through the town from Stonehaven and then onwards to Arbroath in September 1787.  More detail on his visit to our area is contained in our Robert Burns Trail on this website.
  • Prior to 2022 MBC only had official positions for President, Senior Vice President, Junior Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. There was no focal point for collating club records, documents and artefacts collected over the years.

    • In 2022 we created a position of Archivist and Past President Graeme Newton was elected to this post. Now MBC has an archivist, Graeme is collating any club records/documents and artefacts.  The role has expanded to now cover our new website and the Robert Burns Trail in the North East.  So if there is any artifacts or any relevant information out there, please reach out through our website contact details and we will gladly get in touch.

    The 1909 Montrose Burns Club Menu for First Burns Supper at Central Hotel

    1909 Toast List

    2023 Annual Festival

    2023 Toast List

     

     

    Get in touch
    Andy Baxter

    Andy Baxter

    President

    I have been a regular attendee at the Montrose Burns Club festivals since 2006, when I first attended with my father-in-law, Ally Hogg.
    I had the honour of presiding over our 2024 festival and look forward to my duties as President this year.  Many of which you will be able to follow on our new website or Facebook page.
    JAMIE SHAKESPEARE

    JAMIE SHAKESPEARE

    Vice President

    Jamie has been a regular attendee, and supporter of the Montrose Burns festival since 2008, and is looking forward to taking on his festival in 2025. In his spare time Jamie is a keen golfer, and an active member of Montrose Tennis Club.

    View Past Presidents

    Latest Burns Project

    A new Burns memorial cairn was built in 2023 the cairn provides a safe home for the original plaque. the cairn pays tribute to Adam Christie, a patient at Sunnyside, who carved a stone plaque in 1930 to commemorate the spot where Burns stopped to water his horse in 1787 as well as containing a new sculpture done in the style of Adam Christie

    Get In Touch