Burns Club Atlanta 100 members. Following club tradition, membership is only open to males. However, non-member male and female guests are frequent and many and are welcome by invitation. Monthly meetings in the Atlanta Burns Cottage feature readings from Burns’ works and various lectures given by visiting scholars, authorities and members. Previous lecturers include Atlanta author Margaret Mitchell and Scottish entertainer and goodwill ambassador, Sir Henry Lauder. Monthly meetings are noted for relaxed companionship and spirited, yet informal, discussion. Every meeting concludes with the traditional Scottish farewell observance of “circling up” and singing “Auld Lang Syne.” The Burns Club of Atlanta retains the
William Shield Auld Lang Syne" story seems to date from 1998, when John Treherne, Gateshead's Head of Schools' Music Service, uncovered an original edition of the opera "Rosina" in the Gateshead Public Library, while he was looking for new works for the town's youth orchestra. "I thought it was appropriate to look at the work of a Gateshead-born composer. I picked out "Rosina" by Shield," Treherne said. "I started to copy out the score and hummed the tune as I was writing it down. I was coming to the end when I realised the tune floating through my head was Auld Lang