Wa-Hey for play – new park opens at Robert Burns Birthplace Museum

A new play area inspired by the life, works and words of the bard opened at the National Trust for Scotland’s Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway on Saturday 23 September 2017.

Caroline Smith, Operations Manager at Robert Burns Birthplace Museum said:

‘To create Scots Wa-Hey, we’ve taken loads of inspiration from Burns and Alloway and built a play area that is totally unique to this place. Not only is it loads of fun, but it’s a great chance to introduce our younger visitors to the bard and his words in a really engaging way.’

The fantastic new facility includes a mini Burns Cottage, Tam o’ Shanter zip wire, Witches’ Cauldron roundabout and Auld Kirk climbing wall and makes a feature of the Scots language which is used throughout the award-winning museum.

Local families ‘first footed’ the new play area, which has been named Scots Wa-Hey, on Saturday. Sophie Oliver School of Dance helped launch the new fun-filled facility. The project was generously supported by WREN, Tesco Bags of Help and South Ayrshire Waste and Environment Trust.

Sophie Cade, Grant Manager for WREN said:

‘WREN is delighted to support this fantastic new play area. We hope that the local community and visitors have lots of fun at the new facility.’

Stephen Dobson, Tesco Ayr Store Manager, said:

‘It is just braw to see this project come to fruition. Burns is Scotland’s national poet and is part of the fabric of life in Ayrshire we are immensely proud to be involved with such a great local attraction.This award shows first-hand how a Bags of Help grant can help transform local communities. There has been great enthusiasm for the initiative from both Tesco colleagues and our customers. This is just the beginning for Bags of Help and we are hugely excited for the future as the scheme continues to grow and help even more groups across the UK.’

Chair of the Trustees for South Ayrshire Waste and Environment Trust, Garth Foster said:

‘We are once again delighted to support the Trust in its development of Robert Burns Birthplace Museum as the heart of Ayrshire’s heritage.’