A LIVING history event will take place at Robert Burns House in Dumfries on Sunday afternoon.
The free session will centre on the poet’s time in the local militia.
With the wars with France underway, Robert Burns joined the local militia in 1795 and wrote the popular song ‘Dumfries Volunteers’. His demonstration of patriotism would also serve to help get him out of trouble with his superiors at work when he’d been associated with revolutionary sympathisers.
“Does haughty Gaul invasion threat?
Then let the loons beware, sir,
There’s wooden walls upon our seas,
And volunteers on shore, sir.
The Nith shall run to Corsincon,
And Criffel sink in Solway,
Ere we permit a foreign foe
On British ground to rally.”
In this weekend’s special display, in the Bard’s own backyard of his house in Dumfries, visitors can discover the kind of equipment Burns used, his experiences as a volunteer soldier, and how the folk of Dumfries prepared for the conflict.
The living history will be presented between 1.30-4.30 pm by John Sadler’s Time Bandits, well known for their engaging displays of accurate artefacts and uniform.
