TWO young people have been hired by Robert Burns Ellisland Museum and Farm thanks to grant awards from the Holywood Trust and Museums Galleries Scotland.
Caitlin MacLeod and Sarah White, both 23, will work at Robert Burns’s 1788 farmstead outside Dumfries, as part of an eight month internship.
Caitlin (right), who has a post-graduate Msc in museum education from the University of Glasgow, will deliver school visits and help the museum gain “accredited status” to protect its collection of precious items belonging to Burns and his wife Jean Armour. She will also spend one day a week with Dumfries and Galloway Council’s museums department.
Sarah (left) is a IT and graphics undergraduate who will maintain the website and administer the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust charity, whilst running membership, maintenance and visitor services at the 170 acre site.
The appointments come at an exciting time for the charity which earlier this year appointed local musician Lee McQueen to help expand audiences, again funded by Museum Galleries Scotland through their Small Grants Fund.
Lee’s recent Farmhouse Harvest Supper event featured music from winners of the Dumfries and Galloway Burns Association schools competition. The young people were joined by local bands Boglemufty and Coograss, and the event’s profits will help support the site.
Trust business development manager Joan McAlpine, said: “We are enormously grateful to the Holywood Trust and Museums Galleries Scotland for their support. As well as being able to offer career opportunities to two young people, the grant allows us to deliver education experiences through a subsidised school visits programme which has been extremely popular since its launch this summer. Together with the launch of Minecraft Ellisland earlier this year, we think we are taking the bard to a whole new generation.”
The next event at Ellisland is ‘A Scottish Halloween”’which takes place on the afternoon of Sunday October 30 as part of the Wild Goose Festival. There will be apple dooking, stalls, music, competitions and warming winter food.
