Burnsians are being invited to a supper celebrating the lives of the women in Robert Burns’ life.
The Jean Armour supper, named after the “Belle of Mauchline” who became Burns’ wife, is being held on Friday, January 24 at Burns Cottage in Alloway.
Almost 200 years after her death, Jean Armour will be honoured as part of the celebrations.
The event is the brainchild of American harpist Meredith McCrindle and will emphasise the role of women in Burns’ life.
Just 30 tickets are available and the evening will feature entertainment including singer Siobhan McAulay, guitarist David Clifford and bagpiper Donald Currie.
Meredith, originally from Texas, settled in Ayr after graduating from St Andrews University and now lives there with her two sons.
She said: “We felt it was time to recognise the significant role of Jean in Robert Burns’ life.
“It is fitting that any celebration of Burns’ life and work, both of which were hugely influenced by women, should recognise the role of Jean and other females he loved and lost through song and poetry.
“Instead of the focus being on Burns, it’s on Jean and the other women important to Burns – a way of commemorating and celebrating them through the poetry influenced and inspired by them.
“At the event, Jean leads a line of women celebrated in Scottish culture that also includes Burns’ contemporary and fellow poet Janet Little, from Ecclefechan, whose poetry will also be recited on the night.”
Burns Cottage is the birthplace of Scotland’s national bard and played host to the first Burns Supper in 1801 – an exclusively male event.
Many Burns Night celebrations have traditionally been the preserve of men, with the Bachelors’ Club in nearby Tarbolton, set up by Burns and his brother in 1780, well-known as being closed to women for more than 200 years.
Siobhan McAulay is looking forward to performing on the night. She said: “I think the event will be magical.
“The atmosphere when you walk into Burns Cottage is beautiful, so to have the dinner in the same space where Robert Burns himself ate will be really special.
“A lot of the songs performed on the night will be based on Burns love for Jean Armour. I am most looking forward to performing one of my favourite Burns songs, Ae Fond Kiss – it’s such a lovely love song that covers heartbreak and the pain of love.
“There are not many writers these days who can convey that pain and emotion. Another favourite is A Man’s A Man For A’ That, which is about understanding men and their complexity.
“It is normally performed by men, but a female singing it brings a whole new perspective and meaning to it.”
Jean Armour lived from February 1765 until March 1834. She and Robert Burns had nine children together, three of whom survived into adulthood and the last of whom was born on the day of Burns’ funeral in July 1796.
Burns had at least four further children by other women and when one of those women, Jenny Clow, died, Jean Armour took in the illegitimate child and cared for it as her own.
Jean’s widowhood and the straitened circumstances in which she found herself after Burns’s death attracted national attention and a charitable fund was collected for her and the children.
She outlived her husband by 38 years, and lived to see his name become celebrated throughout the world.
Burns’ fame reached such a point 20 years after his death that his remains were removed from their modest grave in St Michael’s Kirkyard, Dumfries and placed in a specially commissioned mausoleum.
Jean Armour was buried alongside him when she died in 1834. Statues of Jean were erected in Mauchline in 2002, and in Dumfries, opposite St Michael’s Kirk, in 2004.
Sponsors of the event include Ardtaraig fishery in Annbank, Ayrshire butcher Pollok Williamson, and Mossgiel Dairy, famously farmed by Robert Burns.
To buy tickets to The Jean Armour Supper at Burns Cottage on Friday 24 January, go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jean-armour-supper-tickets-1100807076599
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