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• 30 January 2012

  Tripoli’s Scots angel picks up Robert Burns Humanitarian Award 2012

  

  A Scots nurse who risked her life to treat patients from both sides of the Libyan civil war has been named recipient of the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award 2012 at the ceremony on Saturday, 28th January.

  Karen Graham – originally from Clydebank and now matron/nursing services manager at the Oil Clinic in Tripoli – was presented with the prestigious award in recognition of her humanitarian efforts to care for patients, with little regard for her own personal safety, while gunfire and shells rained down on Tripoli.

  The Robert Burns Humanitarian Award – launched in 2002 and supported by South Ayrshire Council, EventScotland and VisitScotland – recognises a group or individual who has saved, improved or enriched the lives of others or society as a whole, through personal self-sacrifice, selfless service or 'hands on' charitable work.

  Receiving the award, Karen said: “I was completely overwhelmed just to be nominated for the award so to win it is beyond my wildest expectations, particularly when you consider the other nominees on the shortlist.

  “I’m just a nurse doing a job that I love and that doesn’t change when you suddenly have to deal with civil war and heavy fighting in the vicinity of the hospital which resulted in us caring for the casualties of the conflict rather than the oil workers we were used to looking after.”

  Karen’s fellow shortlisted finalists for the 2012 award were the Deaf History Review Editorial team – a group who have worked to transform the lives of deaf people across the world; and Sam Jennings (née Perkins) – a British midwife who saved the lives of thousands of babies and their mothers in the Congo.

  As the latest recipient of the award, Karen received the equivalent of 1759 guineas – a sum which signifies the year of the Bard's birth and the coinage then in circulation – as well as a specially commissioned award handcrafted in Scotland.

  The Robert Burns Humanitarian Awards is part of Scotland's Winter Festivals. Further information can be found at www.robertburnsaward.com.

  Category: Winter Festivals News
• 25 January 2012

  Celebrate the Bard on Burns Night

  

  Scots and Scots at heart, both at home and abroad will be coming together to celebrate the country's favourite cultural icon, Robert Burns on 25th January. Burns Night is the culmination of Scotland's Winter Festivals and with a jam-packed programme of events across the country there will be plenty for everyone to make the most of.

  Please see below for details of events.

  Monday 23 – Saturday 28 January - Burnsfest 2012 at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh  
  •    Monday 23 – Wednesday 25th January, 7pm, £20 (18+) – Supper With Burns

  A seasonal favourite, an alternative Burns Supper at Edinburgh’s famous Burns pub, The Tass.
  •    Friday 27th January, 7:30pm – Guid Crack

  Glasgow Museum’s Storytelling Fellow, Kati Waitzmann takes to the stage with tales that haunt the Ayrshire coast.

  •    Saturday 28 January - Burns Family Festival Day

  Join award-winning storyteller Tim Porteous and his friends for a fun-filled morning of getting to know Rabbie as he travels into Edinburgh for the first time.

  Wednesday 25 January, 12noon - The World’s First Ceilidh Flash Mob, Edinburgh, Parliament Square

  Join the world’s first Ceilidh Flash Mob amid the historic surroundings of Edinburgh’s Parliament Square. A live band will – weather permitting – play and call you through the steps of a dance programme featuring the Gay Gordons, Dashing White Sergeant, Canadian Barn Dance, St Bernard’s Waltz and Strip the Willow.

  Wednesday 25 January, 7.30pm – Alternative Burns Night with Babelfish & special guests
  Another of the maverick line-ups spawned amid the late-night primal soup of Celtic Connections festival Club Babelfish – who released their debut almbum International Disgrace, in 2011 – will host a Burns Night with a difference. 

  Wednesday 25 – Sunday 29 January: Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Ayr
  •    Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 January – Alloway 1759

  Music, drama and haggis hurling to celebrate the birth of Alloway’s bard, including the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra, Farmers’ Market, horse and cart rides, children’s party and street performances
  •    Sunday 29 January – Sunday 4 March - Singing a Nation into Being to Celebrating the 150th anniversary of India’s national poet, Rabindranath Tagore, the exhibition will examine the connections between Scotland’s Bard and India’s Poet.
  •    Sunday 29 January, 7pm (£30) - A Robert Burns and Rabindranath Tagore Supper

  Two great national heroes who captured the hearts of the world will be celebrated in a unique night of Scottish and Indian dining, music, dance and poetry.

  Wednesday 25 January, 11am: Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
  •    The Celtic Connections Schools Concerts Celebration of Burns

  Celtic Connections will embrace the spirit of Robert Burns and celebrate with a special concert as part of the award-winning Education Programme which is free to school children.  Children performing in the concert have been taking part in a series of workshops designed to teach them about their cultural heritage and the importance of Burns today.

  Friday 27 - Saturday 28th January: The 2012 Big Burns Supper
  The 2012 Big Burns Supper Programme is set to become the world’s largest Burns Festival and will involve an estimated 2,028 performers in 50 strange and wonderful venues throughout Dumfries, including the White Sands waterfront, inside Burns House and the historic Globe Inn.

  More information can be found at www.scotland.org/winter.

  Photo - Sheilagh Tennant 2008

  Category: Winter Festivals News
• 10 January 2012

  Burnsfest: Scotland’s Son for Bairns, Biggins and Everyone in Between at the Heart of the Old Town

  

  Edinburgh’s Royal Mile is the obvious place to start for a taste of Burns and the Scottish Storytelling Centre, right in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town, doesn’t disappoint. Join us as part of Scotland’s Winter Festivals for a Burnsfest feast of storytelling, theatre and song to celebrate the ploughman from Ayrshire who penned some of the finest verses in history.

  To celebrate the Bard’s great love of his nation and his knack for entertaining the masses with wit, charm and sublime storytelling, the Centre presents an action-packed programme with eight braw events for all ages to enjoy; from a traditional Burns Supperwith a twist to family activities of Scots rhymes, tales and games, this Burnsfest proves Scotland’s favourite son has something to offer everyone.

  Find out more details about the jam-packed programme at www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk.

  Funded as part of Scotland's Winter Festivals.

   

  Category: Winter Festivals News