MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT

Spotted a few changes in the site layout? Well, we'd like to share some great news with you…..but you must keep it under wraps till July!

We are delighted and proud to announce that The World Burns Club has accepted lifetime "Patron Status" of The Robert Burns World Federation in an exciting deal which will be formally launched on 25th July 2001 at the World Conference in Atlanta, USA.

The Robert Burns World Federation (often referred to as "The Burns Federation") was founded in 1885 and is the official parent organisation of Burns Clubs in over 16 countries throughout the world, with a membership of over 80,000 people and still growing. The Robert Burns World Federation, based at the magnificent Dean Castle, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, carries out a huge amount of work promoting, educating, and organising a wide spectrum of activities and events both here in Scotland and throughout the world and is singularly the most authoritative source of information and study on the life of Robert Burns.

In accepting life-long patronage, The World Burns Club internet site will become the official host site of "The Burns Federation" and will work in partnership to bring you, our visitors and members, a whole new dimension to the subject. Whilst The World Burns Club has clearly established itself as the worlds leading Burns site with huge traffic levels, the opportunities to improve on user-friendly content are vast.

In essence, The World Burns Club will become The Robert Burns World Federation site, and you can be sure that together, we will be working hard to deliver great content for the Beginner and Expert alike.

• Other areas under development include:-
• More articles, essays and content.
• Greater analysis and comment on Burns work
• In depth details on The Robert Burns World Federation, membership opportunities, history and activities
• A new "Schools & Colleges" section aimed at the younger visitor to the site and providing guidance and information for students and teachers alike.
• The "Burns Shop" which will specialise in those often hard to get Burns Books, together with new publications in book & multi-media formats and other related products and gifts.
• Much More !

"A chance remark in a London park over a hundred years ago led to the formation of a body which today ranks as the oldest national literary association in Scotland. That the idea of forming a Federation of Burns clubs should have first been expressed somewhere furth of Scotland is significant in itself, for, from the very outset, the body which has became the official Burns movement, has been no narrow national organisation but one embracing the whole world.

Little did the handful of men who met in Kilmarnock in July 1885 to form the Burns Federation realise that they were founding an organisation which today boasts of affiliated clubs in 16 countries, with a total membership in excess of 80,000. This represents, of course, a mere fraction of the devotees of what is known today as the Burns cult, the countless thousands ? nay millions ? who congregate each January in every part of the globe to pay tribute to the Immortal Memory of Robert Burns, Scotland's ploughman poet whose worldwide appeal lies not only in the timeless quality of his many poems and songs but also in the sentiments of democracy and universal brotherhood which he advocated."

From the book “The Burns Federation 1885-1985” – (James A. Mackay) written for The Federation’s centenary.

On behalf of the Robert Burns World Federation & the team here at The World Burns Club, we look forward to your regular visit to the site. Spread the word !