AFTER Christmas and New Year, winter becomes a drag.

There is one more festival, however, and one that is observed all over the world - Burns Night.

There are a few photos in the Whitehaven News' more recent archives but certainly not as many as we expected.

What we did find, however, were photos which would explain why Whitehaven may still be holding a bit of a grudge against Scotland.

Whitehaven was the only placed in England - or the UK for that matter - which was attacked during the American Revolution.

And who led the attack? None other than the Scottish-born-and-bred John Paul Jones, from Kirkcudbright. He joined the merchant navy at just 13 and fled to America after killing a mutinous crew member while he was captain of a ship.

Anyway, armed with intimate knowledge of Whitehaven harbour, he launched his attack - an attack that was both audacious and bungled!

Some of the photos on these pages are from a 1971 Granada Television film depicting the attack.

Of course, Whitehaven has another strong link to the United States.

Mildred Gale, a Virginian lady, her new-born baby and her maid all died in Whitehaven.

It just so happens that Mildred Gale was a widow who had married a man from Whitehaven. Her first husband was Lawrence Washington, which made Mildred the grandmother of George Washington - the United States' first president.

Anyway, this column is supposed be about Scottish bard Robert Burns. It seems that Whitehaven is prepared to forgive the traitorous Scots around January 25 and will sit down to enjoy a Burns' night supper with haggis, neeps and tatties, of course.

But why? Burns nights are celebrated around the world. We don't have a Shakespeare night or a Dylan Thomas lunch...

It is not even possible to understand some of his poems written in pure Scots dialect. And when you can understand it, do you get the point of addressing poems to savoury pudding, a mouse and even a louse?

But read A Man's a Man for A' That and you will see why Rabbie, among them all, is the poet of the people!