The Reader hosts two-night celebration in memory of Scottish national poet Robert Burns
Get your tartan kilts pressed and dancing shoes ready for a double Burns Night bash on Friday 24 January and Saturday 25 January at Liverpool’s Calderstones Park.
Liverpool-based Shared Reading charity The Reader is celebrating Burns Night this month with traditional Scottish fare, whiskey tastings, poetry readings and Cèilidh with live band.
The immersive two-night knees-up in memory of one of Scotland’s renowned storytellers Robert Burns begins with an atmospheric three-course Burns Night Dinner on Friday 24 January, 7pm – 11pm, in the elegant dining room of the historic Grade II listed Mansion House in Calderstones Park, Allerton, Liverpool.
This will be followed by a Burns Night Cèilidh on Saturday 25 January, 7pm – 11pm, with the return of popular Liverpool band The Saltcutters, known for their rip-roaring traditional fiddle music from across Ireland and the UK. It will also take place in the Mansion House.
Laura McCarten, Head of Events and Commercial at The Reader, said: “After the snow and icy conditions we’ve had across Liverpool this New Year come, warm up and dance away the January blues remembering the work of Scotland’s national poet in style at our third cracking annual Burns Night double celebration.
“Festivities will take place across two evenings inside the beautiful, cosy Mansion House and includes live traditional music with amazing Liverpool Ceilidh band The Saltcutters, dancing, hearty traditional Scottish dishes and specially hand-picked whiskeys!”
On arrival at the traditional Burns Night Dinner guests will receive a warm welcome and a whiskey cocktail. Members of The Reader team will be reading aloud some of the 18th century poet’s most famous works throughout the evening. Renowned for penning the words to the Scottish song Auld Lang Syne, widely associated with New Year’s Eve, Burns also wrote Address to a Haggis, My Heart’s in the Highlands and Tam O’Shanter.
Each of the three courses will be paired with a dram of specially selected hand-picked whiskeys. The menu includes for staters a traditional Scottish Cullen Skink soup made with haddock, potatoes and onions or Scottish Tattie Soup (VE) for vegetarian/vegans, both served with toasted sourdough.
Guests can tuck into haggis or vegetarian haggis, neeps and tatties, carrot puree and a roasted onion jus for their main course.
And for dessert there is Cranachan – Dalwhinnie 15 whisky cream/Oat Cream (VE), raspberry coulis, toasted rolled oats, topped with fresh raspberries and mint.
On the following night the Burn’s Night Cèilidh will also include a hearty Scottish stew to fuel a lively evening of dancing, poetry and merriment, and the building’s beautiful bar will be open throughout.
For those who fancy a breather from the fast and furious fray of the Cèilidh, there will also the option to browse selections of the work of Scotland’s national bard in The Reader’s cosy Reading Rooms.
Tickets for the Burns Night Dinner cost £60 per person and £25 for the Burns Night Cèilidh, which includes Scottish stew, are available to book here. If you have any specific dietary requirements, please email [email protected].
All profits are reinvested into The Reader’s work as a charity providing free Shared Reading groups in the Liverpool City Region, North West and across the UK. It is the UK’s largest Shared Reading charity and uses literature to connect individuals, help them feel better and to rebuild lost social bonds in places including health and social care settings, hospitals, prisons, dementia care units and within the community.
For further information about The Reader visit The Reader website and view details of their other events featured in the Winter 2025 programme here.
