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History

The original Bachelors' Club was formed in 1780 by Robert and Gilbert Burns with 5 other young gentlemen of the district as a forum for discussion and social intercourse. A set of rules was laid down, Number 10 being:-

'Every man proper for a member of this Society must have a frank, honest heart, above anything dirty or mean and must be a professed lover of one - or more - of the female sex. No haughty, self-conceited person who looks upon himself as superior to the rest of the Club, and especially no mean spirited, worldly mortal whose only will is to heap up money shall upon any pretence whatever be admitted.' The Dancing Master at that time was William Gregg and it is his restored fiddle that Wallace plays on this CD. It is almost certain that Robert Burns himself played this very instrument.

The present building was set for demolition by the local council but was saved after a petition and fund raising activities by the organisations of the Tarbolton village. In 1938 the National Trust for Scotland bought the building for the princely sum of £100. The present committee was formed in 1951, the 7 members coming from the Tarbolton Literary Society.
The 1st Annual Burns Supper was held in 1970 with some 40 invited gentlemen attending, jointly invited by the National Trust and the Bachelors' Club Committee.