Media Release

For Immediate Release

January 23, 2009

Robbie Burns’ birthday party goes global

Robbie Burns would love it -- a birthday party of global proportions.

This Sunday, Jan. 25, at 5 p.m., everyone is invited to gather around the statue of Robert Burns in Victoria Park in Halifax (on Spring Garden Road across from the Public Gardens).

At that time, people at Burns’ memorials around the world will connect simultaneously by e-mail to wish Robbie a happy 250th.

Dr. Leith Davis, Director of the Centre for Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University came up with the idea when she was making plans for 250th celebrations at the Burns statue in Stanley Park in Vancouver. Apparently, people sent telegrams across North America in 1859 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Burns’ birth. This year, Dr. Davis wants to harness the power on the internet to extend those birthday wishes around the world – from Scotland to Australia and from Vancouver to Halifax.

Dr. Leith recently contacted Dr. Michael Vance, a history professor at Saint Mary’s University, to help coordinate the event in Halifax. The Burns’ statue in Halifax is actually the same as the one in Vancouver and many others around the world.

The participants at all the gatherings on Sunday will send e-mail messages to each other at 1 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. The Vancouver time was chosen because it will works well for the gatherings being held in Vancouver (1 p.m.), Winnipeg (3 p.m.), Toronto (4 p.m.), Montreal (4 p.m.), Halifax (5 p.m.), and Melbourne (8 a.m., Jan. 26) as well as other places around the world.

Some of the organizations already confirmed for the event include: Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Scottish Studies in Vancouver, the Ayr Burns Club in Scotland, the Heather & Thistle Society in Houston, Texas, the Fredericton Society of Saint Andrew, the Halton Peel Burns Club, the British American Business Council in Pittsburgh Region, The Burns Club of London, Victoria Joint Scottish Council in British Columbia, the Robert Burns Centre at the University of Glasgow, the Melbourne Burns Club, the Port Adelaide Caledonian Society, the University of Manitoba, the San Francisco Burns enthusiast, the Dunedin Burns Club and the Celtic Studies program at St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto.

If you have a Burns memorial in your community and want to be part of the global event, e-mail your contact information to Dr. Leith Davis at leith@sfu.ca. Dr. Davis will send a message to all participants, and all you'll have to do is hit “reply all” to send a greeting from your celebration to everyone on the list.

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For More Information:

Blake Patterson
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: blake.patterson@smu.ca
www.smu.ca