Bridgeton Burns Club is lucky to have a complete set of our minutes going back to 1870.

That does not make researching the history of the Club an easy task. To plough through musty minute books in copperplate fountain pen, (often done in haste and I would suggest in the poor candlelight or gaslight of the last 19th century) is not a task many would undertake. With encouragement from the University of Glasgow and its Centre for Robert Burns Studies, and Prof Gerry Carruthers in particular, we now have, through the help of a local Bridgeton IT company called Abergower, a complete set of digitised records of the history of the Club going back to January 1870, when Mr Wilson hosted our first Burns nicht at his grocers shop at 13 Main Street Bridgeton, with a few friends. As Minute Secretary I was tasked with an “On the Bard Slot” at the September 2024 Board Meeting. I initially started poring over the minutes and looked at our early Festivals (now the Anniversary Dinner), and the highly entertaining Club Outings. The revelations included extra toasts, early Festivals where “ladies were admitted, but at a reduced rate, in terms of the cost of wines etc.”, and the ladies involvement in the Outing. The 1877 Outing to Paisley, including a visit to the “celebrated Pees Weep Inn, fortunately the Landlady has just finished a large baking of scones, which she calculated would probably last the family for a fortnight, The members of the Bridgeton Burns Club, however with their wives, & sweethearts, made short work of them “then proceeded by the Well on the Brae of Hugh McDonald, and at last arrived at the Centre of the Dell Sacred to the Memory of Tannahill, where Roun the Sylvan Fairy nooks Feath’ry breckans fringe the rocks ‘Beath the Brae the burnie jouks’, It looks like the September “On the Bard” slot is secure for the next few years, only the first seven years were touched upon in 2024, we have another 148 years to account for . . .watch this space. Iain W Glennie, Past President

My thanks to Iain Glennie for his efforts on archives and to other presenters at our monthly “On the Bard” events which take place after our board meetings in the Marriott. These have included presentations of lesser known works of Burns and other poets, a fiddle accordion ensemble lead by Past President Ian Robb and indeed re-mastered old footage of our 1996 competition and concert by our VP. Please do look at our Facebook, Twitter feeds and Website for more history, newspapers cuttings and brief bios of past presidents. These reveal a club with a wide range of social backgrounds, from bustling Bridgeton in late 19th century, but soon patronised also by city centre professionals and indeed local and national politicians but forever remaining popular among a wide range of schools in the East of Glasgow.

Colin R Botfield President