Heritage Services Officer at Burns Monument Centre

We've just received the following communication from Ross McGregor, the new Heritages Services Officer, working out of the Burns Monument Centre.  I have attached his e-mail in full:-

I’d like to introduce myself as the Heritage Services Officer at the Burns Monument Centre, Kilmarnock. I started in this new post a few weeks ago and I’m keen to establish links with local history groups and other organisations. My role at the Centre is to develop the services offered here, both to historians / researchers and to the wider community. As well as libraries and literature I have a strong background in education, which will play a key role in how I develop the heritage service.

I’ve had a look at your excellent website and see you’ve flagged up the SCRAN taster sessions taking place here and at other library venues. I plan to hold far more events here, which will hopefully promote access to local history, family history and archive resources for a wider audience. We already have some events taking place in July / August that may also be of interest to your members – on 28^th July we have ‘Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect - an evening of poetry and music celebrating the anniversary of the Kilmarnock Edition’ featuring Prof Alan Riach, Zoe Strachan, Cheryl Follon and Tam Dean Burn’s band (I’ve attached more info below). I’m also planning workshops that allow participants to delve into the archive materials we have, starting with an Archive and Creative Writing workshop with Zoe Strachan and Christine Ewing (Principal Archivist) on Wednesday 15^th August. I’m developing a blog for the Centre which will include information on events and workshops, but also snippets of local history and images. I began a series a displays of local history and archive material for visitors to browse and I’m hoping to include informal talks and presentations as part of this. The next display will be based around the national My Favourite Places project (Scottish Book Trust / BBC) with a particular focus on our local literary heritage.

I’ve established links with the Robert Burns World Federation and the National Library of Scotland, which will help to promote the significance of our collections. I want to ensure the historical collections and rare books we hold here in Kilmarnock are given proper recognition.

I hope my introduction is of some interest to the Group. If you’d like to have a chat about the developments at the Centre, what we can offer and how we could work together, please just get in touch.

Kind regards,

Ross.

Ross McGregor

Heritage Services Officer

Library, Registration and Information Services

Burns Monument Centre

Kay Park, Kilmarnock

East Ayrshire

KA3 7RU

01563 553655

www.burnsmonumentcentre.com