IRVINE’S MSP has hit out after a national website devoted to Robert Burns failed to mention the Bard’s strong connection to the town.

SNP member for Cunninghame South Ruth Maguire said she was surprised the the Centre for Burns Studies made no reference to Irvine, even though it was the place where he decided to become a poet. 

She described the town as the Cradle of the Poet and “the best kept secret in the Burns world”.

And during a Holyrood debate on The Economic Potential of Robert Burns, Ms Maguire invited all MSPs to visit Irvine’s Wellwood Burns Centre & Museum.

In 1781, a young Robert Burns arrived in Irvine as an apprentice flax worker.

By the time he left Irvine the following year, he had resolved ‘to endeavour at the character of a poet’ – in large part due to friendship that developed between Burns and local sea captain, Richard Brown, who encouraged him to become a poet.

Ms Maguire said: “Burns the man may have been born in Alloway – but Burns the poet was born in Irvine.”

She also told the chamber how Irvine is home not only to the oldest Burns club in the world but also the Wellwood Burns Centre & Museum and its impressive collection of Burns related items.

The collection includes six of the original manuscripts which Burns sent to the printer John Wilson in Kilmarnock for his famous Kilmarnock Edition, as well as CM Hardie’s world famous 1887 painting, ‘Burns in Edinburgh’, and original letters from Robert Burns to his friend David Sillar.

Speaking in the debate, Ms Maguire said: “It’s often said that Irvine is the best kept secret in the Burns’ world – but we don’t want to keep it a secret any longer.

“We want it to enjoy the national and international recognition that it deserves – and we want to see Irvine take its place as the Burns related cultural tourism hotspot that it should rightly be.

“So as Burns Day approaches, I’d like to extend an invite everyone to come to Irvine and see the magnificent collection that the museum has to offer for themselves.”

The MSP has also written directly to all MSPs in the West of Scotland to invite them to come to Irvine.