Pop star Nina Nesbitt has bought 15 large haggis and litres of Irn Bru for a Burns Night party at her home on Saturday night.
Edinburgh-born Nesbitt, 30, said she hosted a Burns Night ceilidh each year at her home just outside London, to celebrate her love of the Bard and feel closer to home.
She will provide guests with haggis, neeps and tatties as well as Irn Bru and whisky.
Guests will take part in ceilidh dances including Strip the Willow, then break to watch Nesbitt sing “Bonnie Jean” on BBC Scotland’s Burns Night programme on TV.
Nesbitt, who recorded the song with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra last week, said: “I’m a huge Robert Burns fan.
“I have a Burns Night ceilidh every year in my house. We get rid of all the furniture and about 30 people come round and eat haggis and drink whisky.
“I’ve been down south for a while now so I always like to make a thing of Burns’ Night. I put Scottish flags outside my house and invite all my mates round with their plus-ones.
“We address the haggis and toast the lassies and the laddies, the whole lot. I’ve just been at the shops and bought 15 haggis and 30 cans of Irn Bru.
“One of my friends is an expert ceilidh dancer and so she leads the ceilidh and tells people where they need to go. A few people have fallen over in the past.”
Singer-songwriter Nesbitt said part of this year’s party will be watching BBC Scotland’s Burns Night programme on TV.
The programme, to be shown on the BBC Scotland channel and BBC Four, was recorded at Glasgow’s City Halls and features The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra alongside a host of contemporary and traditional musicians and spoken word performances.
Nesbitt will be joined by musicians including Deacon Blue frontman Ricky Ross, sea shanty singer Nathan Evans, reigning World Piping Champions Inveraray and District Pipe Band and Katie The Wheeled Piper as well as Call the Midwife star and soprano Laura Main.
The programme will also feature spoken word recitals from Elaine C. Smith and Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson of Scot Squad, played by actor and comedian Jack Docherty.
Nesbitt, who will sing Burns’ song Bonnie Jean, said: “Scotland is a country well-known for its storytelling and we all grew up with Robert Burns at school.
“It’s part of our history and culture. I’ve always taken that with me. Even when I’m writing a pop song or a dance song the story is always the most important part to me.
“It’s my first time singing Bonnie Jean and also my first time singing with an orchestra — it was a really cool experience.
“Normally when I sing, a lot of my Scottish accent disappears but with this song being in that old Scots dialect, I really had to learn the pronunciation and push that when I was singing.
“It felt really special being a part of that, and really magical doing it with the orchestra. I loved it.”
* BBC Scotland’s Burns Night programme is on Saturday 25 Jan, BBC Scotland, 8.30-9.30pm and BBC Four at 10.30-11.30pm.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0027fw7
