They are all literary greats, revered and renowned, their works celebrated and studied throughout the world.

And yet arguably none command a greater level of appreciation than the humble Ayrshire farmer, Robert Burns, described by his tutor John Murdoch as a young pupil who "made rapid progress in reading and was just tolerable at writing".

There is no official Shakespeare Night where passages of Twelfth Night or Hamlet are recited. And there is no annual dinner where verses of "If" are shared in good company, with good food and good cheer.

But Burns has been taken to the hearts of generations as Scotland's best-loved bard and Burns suppers have been held in his honour for over 200 years.

And that tradition was upheld in fine style on Friday night as the 1514 Club held its annual Burns supper in good company, with good food and good cheer.

There was whisky, haggis, song and poetry in a format that has remained unchanged since the ritual was started by close friends of Burns a few years after his death in 1796.

The Bard even made an appearance himself, during what was an enthralling and hugely entertaining toast to the Immortal Memory by Gordon Withers, who was brought up in Burns's home county and schooled in Kilmarnock.

Few could have predicted how his toast would unfold when he took to the stage. By the end though, he had not only stripped from his suit and tie, but he had taken on the guise of the great poet, in appearance and prose.

It was a fitting tribute and one that quite rightly earned rapturous applause.

The tone for the evening had been set earlier under the guiding hand of Club president Rob Halliday. After the haggis had been piped in by Roddy McIntyre and Grace was said by Vice-President Dougie Rae, Mr Halliday took over and addressed the "Great Chieftain o' the pudding race", knife in hand, with grand fervour.

Supplied by Alistair Pow's Butchers and cooked and served by the staff from Brydon's, it was a feast befitting the occasion, "Warm-reekin, rich!"

And so, most generously fed, and with the bar staff from the Burns Club keeping the gathering suitably watered, it was over to the entertainers.

First up on a packed programme was a medley from Hawick Pipe Band, led by Pipe Major Cammie Renwick, and a drum solo, which had the audience mesmorised. After his performance, Mr Withers was always going to be a hard act to follow. He raised the bar for the assembled guests but they didn't disappoint. Ex-president John Tait followed with "The Star o' Robbie Burns" and ex-President Michael Aitkin, an entertainer of great standing in the town and official Common-Riding song-singer, recited "Tam o' Shanter" flawlessly, with great enthusiasm.

After a pipe solo from Mr McIntyre, Bernie Armstrong gave a humorous take on the fairer sex. And the traditional rendition of "Holy Wullie's Prayer" was delivered in costume by Derek Inglis.

It had been a night worthy of the great man and had got the town's Burns celebrations off to the perfect start. The walls of the Burns Club had reverberated to songs from Coldstream's Bobby Hanlon, Ex-President Henry Douglas, Viv Sharp, Scocha's Davie Chapman and Iain Scott and Ronnie Tait, with Ian Seeley on piano.

All that was left was for Cornet Jamie Richardson to toast The Chairman and for the company to join, arm in arm, in the singing of Auld Lang Syne.

And as the gathering made their way off into the cold January evening, the words of Burns, penned at the foot of the programme, took on greater significance,

"We've sung an' played and piped his lays,
An' sune maun tak' oor hameward ways,
Let's ne'er forget his lesson sent
An' tak' a kindlier, humbler bent."

PHOTOGRAPHS: ANDY LACKENBY