Royal Visit - Alloway - 9th September 2021
Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay and The Duchess of Rothesay were met by the Lord - Lieutenant of Ayrshire and Arran, Sheriff Iona McDonald OBE when they visited Alloway earlier today. During their visit they met with a number of local residents and shopkeepers and, as always, they were keen to hear about the businesses and how they could support them as we emerge from the pandemic.
Linda Singh from 27 Alloway Florists said” I was really nervous before the visit as it is not every day that a Duke and Duchess visit your shop. However they quickly put me at my ease and were most interested in our business “
The visit continued to the Village Hall where their Royal Highnesses met local food and craft producers including Blackthorn Salt, Caldwells Organic Food, Mossgiel Milk, Corrie Mains Eggs and Balmoral Bonnets. His Royal Highness, who has had a lifelong interest in organic farming and the use of organic materials in clothing, spent a considerable time with each of the producers discussing how they could contribute to environmental issues and climate change.
Bryce Cunningham from Mossgiel Milk said after meeting His Royal Highness. “I was amazed at the breadth and depth of knowledge that His Royal Highness has of the challenges facing the dairy industry and the valuable contribution that we can make to the nation’s food supply in an environmentally sustainable way”
No visit to Alloway would be complete without a visit to Burns Cottage where Robert Burns was born in 1759. Here, the Lord-Lieutenant introduced Philip Long OBE, Chief Executive of the National Trust for Scotland, Caroline Smith, Operations Manager of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Christopher Waddell, Visitor Services Manager at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.
Their Royal Highnesses then toured Burns’ Cottage and met with local schoolchildren, volunteers, staff and friends of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.
The Duke and Duchess viewed artefacts including the original Auld Lang Syne manuscript, which John Scally, a Trustee of Friends of the National Libraries (of which The Duchess has been Patron since 2014) discussed Their Royal Highnesses also watched a brief performance played on Burns’ very own fiddle, ‘The Gregg Violin’.
To conclude the visit His Royal Highnesses met 40 members of National Trust for Scotland’s staff, marking the Trust’s 90th anniversary.
The Lord - Lieutenant Sheriff Iona McDonald OBE said “It was my great honour and privilege to welcome The Duke and The Duchess to Alloway today and I am pleased to see that they both enjoyed speaking to local shopkeepers and food producers before touring Burns Cottage in the same way as Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh did when they visited Alloway in 1995.”
A selection of photographs from the visit follow