A bronze statue of Jean Armour, the first in the world, is scheduled to be unveiled at Mauchline Cross on Saturday, 30 November at 2pm.

Lady Alexander of Ballochmyle will reveal the statue. Guest speakers include Provost James Boyd; Jim Robertson (President of the Robert Burns World Federation); James Cosmo (actor and Burns enthusiast) and Mauchline Burns Club members. Councillor Eric Jackson, local elected Member, will host the event.

The statue was designed by sculptor Ruaraig MacIver. It has been cast in bronze by Beltane Studios in Peebles and, uniquely, is of a young Jean Armour, aged 23. The bronze is slightly above life-size and will sit on a stone plinth to the left of the main entrance to Mauchline Library, facing down Castle Street towards the Burns House Museum. A bronze plaque on the plinth will carry, among other details, the first four lines of Burns' honeymoon song to Jean, 'Of a' the Airts' (1789).

A number of other things have been planned, including music from Muirkirk pipe band and folk singer John McAttee, who lives near Mauchline. A wreath will be placed at the base of the statue by Lavinia Drew, great great great granddaughter of Robert Burns.

The idea for this memorial originally came from Mauchline Burns Club. They in turn approached East Ayrshire Council for help in applying for grant assistance to the Score Fund and for the Council's general support.

The Council was delighted to get involved and is providing a range of support, including arranging for the Burns House Museum and Nanse Tinnock's to be open from 12noon - 4pm on the day of the statue's unveiling. The Council's Museums Service will arrange for several objects from the Council collection to be on display in the Burns House Museum before and immediately after the event, and Mauchline Church will also be open. Peter Westwood, who has written two books on Jean Armour, will be available to sign copies of his book.

Mauchline Burns Club also intend exhibiting artefacts connected with the life of Jean Armour, currently in private hands, thus providing a rare opportunity to have these objects back in Mauchline on the day. In addition, local volunteers have been working on a Powerpoint computer presentation, which will be on show at the Burns Heritage Museum. This will feature rarely seen images from local collections.

The Ayrshire Electronaic Community has arranged the printing of signs for the museum exhibition.

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