An Angus event commemorating the escapades of four Robert Burns enthusiasts was held on Sunday.
Robert Burns stopped to water his horse in Hillside on his Highland Tour of 1787 along with his travelling companion Willie Nicol, when Burns was visiting the ancestral graves of his forebears at Glenbervie, and the various farms and relatives connected to the family of Robert Burns.
His father William Burnes was born at Clochnahill in the parish of Dunnottar and a stone cairn was built at the side of the road to Stonehaven, to commemorate this connection with the Bard.
In 1930 four local men decided to mark his passage through the Mearns and Angus and into the history, and a memorial service was held beside their revived plaque in Rosemount Road.
Sunnyside Hospital’s superintendent C J Shaw along with orderlies Willie Herd and Joseph placed the memorial plaque in the wall.
It was sculpted by Adam Christie, who was a patient at Sunnyside for 50 years.
The event focused on the four “men of Hillside” who installed the plaque, as well as Burns’ visit.
Lathallan School pipe band member Lucy Sanger welcomed the guests before Councillor Bill Howatson gave a dedication to the memory of the Rev John Anderson, who officiated at the Christie installation at Sleepyhillock cemetery in 2014, and did the same for the replacement Burns plaque in Hillside.
He paid tribute to a “passionate and intelligent” man who had an affinity for heritage.
Mr Howatson, Montrose Burns Club president Duncan Salmon, and Arbroath club president-elect Alan Mowatt narrated the poet’s journey between Aberdeen and Laurencekirk from his 1787 journal, before North Angus and Mearns MSP Mairi Evans laid red roses.
Organiser Dave Ramsay said: “It is fitting to mark the journey of Robert Burns through Angus on his Highland Tour of 1787, through the birthplace of his father William Burnes, and the contribution of the ‘men of Hillside’ to the heritage of this area.
“I’d like to thank all those who attended the ceremony, and Ms Evans for laying the roses in tribute.”
