Region gets set to celebrate Burns

CELEBRATE the birthday of Scotland’s bard at one of several Burns events across the region.

In Dumfries the carnival’s back on Saturday, lighting up the winter night with spectacle, colour, movement and magic.

As part of the bigger Northern Lights events, thousands of performers and spectators will gather for processions, performance and community celebration in the heart of Dumfries.

Watch the streets come to life as Dumfries Carnival hits the town from 5 pm – alongside this you will be able to visit the Northern Lights Trail and Rabbie’s Winter Village.

For those looking for a more traditional celebration head to the Devil’s Porridge Museum on Friday, January 23 from 6 pm. Enjoy a night of traditional Scottish food and entertainment at the museum as well as a bagpiper, highland dancers, plus all the traditional poems and speeches you can usually expect from a Burns Supper.

In Langholm, a community Burns Supper has been organised for Saturday, January 24 at 7 pm at the Buccleuch Centre by the Muckle Toon’s young people.

An Evening of Traditional Entertainment peppered with some modern twists will help to keep the life and works of Robert Burns alive for everyone that comes along. After a healthy meal of haggis, neeps and tatties you will be treated to speeches, song and poems from the Bard.

On the Burns’ birthday itself (Sunday, January 25), Ellisland Farm will be welcoming families for a Bairns Burns Supper from 11.30 am onwards.

Amongst games and blether and rhyme and tales led by a Scottish fairy storyteller, bairns will hear the sounds of the bagpipes and listen to Burns’ most famous poems. Each ticket also includes a snack style serving of haggis, neeps and tatties.

Filled with light hearted fun, a’ the wee lads and lassies are bound to enjoy this youthful imagination of a traditional Burns celebration.

Meanwhile at Locharbriggs Community Centre are hosting an afternoon of music, song and dance on Sunday, January 25.

With live music from John Caskie and the McRobert brothers, it’s sure to be a fitting celebration worthy of the bard himself. The event starts at 2 pm.