The Halifax Burns Club

 

We celebrate the life and works of Robert Burns and promote Scottish heritage in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

 

Our association is based on the Tarbolton Bachelors' Club founded by Burns. Like the original club, we seek to be “a diversion for the weary man worn down by necessary labours of life”.

 

We have an active choir which is welcomed at numerous venues about town. Our members perform other work for good causes.

 

Our Burns Supper is a highlight of our social year. It is highly regarded for its good times and top speakers.

 

We assemble on the first Thursday of the month between September and June aboard Canada’s Naval Memorial, HMCS Sackville. Our meetings typically include poetic readings and songs of Robert Burns. Like the Tarbolton Club, formal debates are presented from time to time.

 

In keeping with the Tarbolton tradition, our members are all male, although we have dropped the requirement to be a bachelor. Membership is by invitation and is limited to 37 men, one for each year that Burns lived.