Robert Burns and Luath

Image: © Andy Farrington Taken: 22 Oct 2011

To mark the opening of Henry Boot's £75m Ayr Central shopping centre in 2006, local dignitaries gathered to unveil a sculpture depicting the local hero Robert Burns. Following a Scotland-wide competition, artist David Annand was selected to create a sculpture out of steel and bronze, based on Burns' poem 'The Twa Dogs'. The sculpture depicts Burns and his faithful Border Collie, Luath. The plinth is engraved with excerpts from the poem. To save you looking it up - and it runs to 38 stanzas of impenetrable scots - the poem is about Burns' views on landlord and tenant relationships. And it's clear that the poetical ploughboy was no friend of landlords or their managing agents. He wrote: I've notic'd, on our laird's court-day, An' mony a time my heart's been wae, Poor tenant bodies, scant o'cash, How they maun thole a factor's snash; He'll stamp an' threaten, curse an' swear He'll apprehend them, poind their gear; While they maun stan', wi' aspect humble, An' hear it a', an' fear an' tremble!

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