Grant for new Burns museum

A new museum dedicated to Robert Burns is to receive more than £5million in Lottery funding.
The new facility in Alloway Ayrshire, birthplace of Scotland's national bard, will replace an existing museum which has fallen into disrepair.
The cottage where Burns was born 248 years ago today is also to be restored as part of a major £17million project.

The aim is to turn the town's Burns National Heritage Park into a major visitor attraction. The News came as the world prepared to celebrate the poet's birth in 1759 with a meal of haggis, neeps and tatties.
The new museum, which will open in 2009 to coincide with bicentenary celebrations.

National Trust for Scotland chairwoman Shonaig Macpherson said: "It is vitally important that the legacy of Robert Burns, which is celebrated around the world, is properly marked here in Scotland with a high quality museum that allows people of all interests and backgrounds to study and enjoy the bard's poetry, his songs and his life story. Burns' life and his works are just as relevant today as they were when he lived and it is crucial that we make sure none of what he gave us is lost."
The National Trust for Scotland are co-ordinating the project.
The current museum is suffering from damp and many items have had to be moved to the National Libraries in Edinburgh.
Works such as the original manuscripts of Auld Lang Syne and Tam O'Shanter will be exhibited in the new museum. The old building will be turned into classrooms and a library.
It has also been announced that official documents relating to the bard will be put online.
Burns' birth and marriage certificates go online as part of a project to make digital images available of old certificates held at the General Register Office for Scotland.

They are on display at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk