Irvine is gearing up to mark 240 years since the birth of John Galt.

Novelist and entrepreneur John Galt, who was born in Irvine on May 2 1779, will be celebrated in the Townhouse with Irvine Burns Club hosting their annual wreath laying ceremony at the John Galt Plaque.

And this year a group of 12 Canadians from the city of Guelph, which was founded by Galt, will join the commemoration.

The group arrived in Scotland at the end of April and on May 2 and May 3 will be touring the town, with the programme organised by the council, Irvine Burns Club and the John Galt Society.

They will meet at 11am at the John Galt Plaque on Thursday, May 2 with attendees joined by Provost Ian Clarkson and Councillor Leanne Caron Piper of the City of Guelph Council, who will lay wreaths.

After this the Canadian visitors and other invited guests will tour the Wellwood Burns Centre and Museum – with John Galt one of its first Honorary Members of Irvine Burns Club back in 1828.

In the afternoon some of the group will visit Irvine Royal Academy and perform a play ‘John Galt and the Lost City’.

The next day Irvine Lasses Burns Club will guide the group on a Harbourside Heritage Walk from the Pilot House to the Puffer café followed by a visit to the genealogy and local history facilities at the Townhouse.

In the evening, the group will attend the annual John Galt Lecture in Irvine’s Townhouse which will be delivered by Professor Ian Campbell of Edinburgh University.

The format for the evening starting around 6.30pm will be a performance of the play ‘John Galt and the Lost City’, a buffet supper at 7.15pm, and then the lecture at 8pm.

Tickets costing £20 are available from the HAC.

Check next week’s Times for a full report and pictures of the event.