Spare a thought for town’s own bard

Buddies celebrating Burns Night are being urged not to forget Paisley’s own bard Robert Tannahill.

Tannahill was born in Castle Street in Paisley on June 3 1774, and his family moved to Queen Street where Tannahill composed his own poems while weaving at his loom.

The famous Buddie lived there until his death on May 17 1810 when it was believed that in a fit of depression he committed suicide in the Paisley Canal.

An avid admirer of Burns, Robert and became the first secretary of the Paisley Burns Club which was founded in 1805 and claims to be the world’s oldest formally constituted Burns Club.

This club still meets today at Tannahill’s Cottage in Queen Street.

C o u n c i l l o r Ke n n y MacLaren said: “Like many others I will be celebrating Burns Night with the traditional fare of haggis, neeps and tatties but I will also be sparing a thought for Paisley’s own bard, Robert Tannahill.

“Although he never achieved the same level of fame as Burns, Tannahill was wrote many important songs and poems.

“Robert Tannahill is one of the 16 writers and poets depicted on the lower sections of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh and there is also a bust of him, alongside one of Burns, in the Hall of Heroes at the Wallace Monument in Stirling.”