Welcome Message from our President

I extend a very warm welcome to the website of the world’s oldest Burns club. Please click HERE to become a member

I am honoured to serve as President of Greenock Burns Club for a second time. Although we had a website back in 1996, managed by the late Alex Francis, technology has moved on even more and  we must continue to embrace it.

I have resolved to read a bit of Burns poetry each day and to try and learn more about the Bard. I am dipping into James Mackay’s biography Burns and rereading Robert Burns :The Tinder Heart by Hugh Douglas. James Mackay visited our club in 1997 and presented a copy of his poetry collection to each primary and secondary school in the area.

When I was president in 1996 my mother Elizabeth Doull and I spent a whole week in Dumfries. It was the bicentenary of the death of Burns and it was an action packed seven days. Particularly special to me was the service at the Brow Well and I believe that was the first time I heard ‘Epistle to Davie, a Brother Poet.’

‘The heart ay’s the part ay

That makes us right or wrang’

In the Mother Club we need to make sure we have heart and that we all work together for the benefit of the club.

My adopted  ‘mammy’, Miss Mabel Irving, has been a huge influence on my Burns life and she remains someone that I will always admire. Mabel was the club bard who was barred! In 1980 Mabel was permitted to join the club and became the first woman secretary and then president in 1986. For this reason I would like to hold a memorial lecture for Mabel during 2024 and 2025.

I look forward to a full programme of Burns events and encourage members to keep reading Burns this year and to share their favourites with each other. By way of example, at our first Trustees’ meeting we shall read ‘Epistle to Davie, a Brother Poet.’ 

Mrs Isabel Lind OBE
President