In June, Stirling Council announced a bizarre plan to burn a wooden replica of the Bannockburn statue of Robert the Bruce at Stirling Castle on Hogmanay 1999. This has led to various letters to the Stirling Observer, all denouncing the plans on various grounds. Here is one such letter, published on 22nd June:

Dear Sir,

Last Wednesday's Stirling Observer led with Stirling Council's plans to construct and then burn a wooden statue of Robert the Bruce as its contribution to the Millennium celebrations.

The dubious privilege of being burned in effigy is usually reserved for hate figures - Guy Fawkes, for example. So what message will Stirling Council send out to the world by burning an effigy of Robert the Bruce? This looks remarkably like a belittling of this area’s history in general and Bruce in particular. If there is some other meaning, those behind the project must explain what it might be.

For that matter, what message does it send out locally? It recalls nothing so much as the torching of the replica Wallace Monument in Kings Park playpark by vandals a few years ago.

This project may well be in line with the grandiose emptiness of spectacles like the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, but surely the public money could be put to many more substantial uses.

Yours faithfully, A. Dickson

A follow-up letter was sent on 11th July and published on 20th July:

Dear Sir,

After several weeks of letters concerning Stirling Council's plans to burn a statue of Robert the Bruce, Councillor John Hendry at last attempted a reply in your columns last week.

It is sad that he could not raise himself above throwing insults, accusing those of us who have written to oppose the plans of “dubious motives”. Unless he can substantiate these accusations, he must apologise. Councillor Hendry’s aggressive politicking is a reminder of why politicians are held in such low regard.

Beyond that, his letter finds the Council languishing in confusion. Three weeks ago, they confidently announced that the burning was a Spanish custom; now the Spanish element has been airbrushed and the burning has become Celtic, a midwinter repeat of the Council’s beloved Beltane festival. Spanish or Celtic, Pagan or Christian - who cares? - not the Council and their Millennium Consultants. This pick’n’mix search for a meaning, any meaning, highlights the extent to which the whole plan is an empty-headed spectacle.

Yours faithfully,

A. Dickson

See the Stirling Observer web pages for current information on this issue.

A meeting is being organised by the Saltire Society on the evening of 9th August, in the Golden Lion Hotel.

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