From Moscow to Melbourne, international support is growing for Scotland's Bard's birthplace in Alloway. Burns National Heritage Park, which comprises Burns Cottage and Museum, the Burns Monument, Kirk Alloway and the Brig o'Doon is in need of a multi-million pound injection of cash to repair and restore its historic buildings. After a steep decline in domestic tourism, the Park (one of Scotland's very few completely self-funding heritage sites) is finding it increasingly difficult to fund essential work. One expert has even proposed the complete removal to safe premises in Edinburgh of the Park's Burns Collection, widely considered to be the most important in the world.

Across the world, Burns-lovers are stirring to the defence of the historic birthplace. The Melbourne Burns Club and its sister Scottish Societies of Victoria raised 1000 Australian Dollars to contribute to the fighting fund. In Moscow, the St Andrew's Society of Russia have promised a levy of $5 US dollars from everyone attending their 2003 Burns Supper. At home, McKean Foods have pledged 5% of all haggis they sell at branches of ASDA supermarkets during January to the cause and staff at Bishopbriggs ASDA have put out collecting buckets to help save Burns Cottage Museum.

But it is still not enough. The effects of foot and mouth disease, September 11 and the middle-east crisis are still being felt in Ayrshire, which already faced a declining tourist market. Changing lifestyles and the strength of the pound have hit hard the traditional coach tours and other holidaymakers in the region. despite its National nomenclature, Burns National Heritage Park is completely self-funding and reliant on income from visitors to continue operating. As a result, its priceless buildings and artefacts are starting to face risk of damage. Burns family Bible is currently being restored in Dundee, following storm damage last winter and the much-loved profile of auld Kirk Alloway in December suffered a loss when its 17th Century bell-tower was removed for safety reasons. Now both bell and bible sit in storage, waiting for sufficient cash to be raised to see them returned to public display. As the current cash-crisis worsens, there is a danger that more of the Park's irreplaceable treasures will join them. Among them, the manuscripts of Auld Lang Syne, Scots Wha Hae and Tam o'Shanter, Burns personal journals and letters, Burns first printed edition and other 'Burnsiana' such as Lord Byron's personal copy of Burns all face the prospect of being removed to the safety of an institution such as the National Library.

Park Director, Nat Edwards, is not prepared to give up Alloway's treasures without a fight,

"the Burns Collection in Alloway is recognised by scholars across the world as the most important anywhere, yet it doesn't receive a penny of public revenue funding. We have to put all our resources into retail and catering in order to scrape together the money we need to operate, at the expense of the vital education and conservation work that this unique heritage deserves. It breaks my heart to see millions of public pounds spent on all sorts of spurious cultural events when probably the most significant cultural legacy Scotland has is under threat. Despite requests to ministers, publicity and questions asked in the Scottish Parliament, we seem no closer to getting the financial support we need. Scotland's politicians have promised us that they will be reviewing cases such as ours when they have finished considering last year's national audit of museum collections, but at the same time, they have made it clear that little, if any, extra money will be available for museums. I don't believe that we can wait much longer for action without jeopardising the future of some of our most important national treasures."

Currently the lion's share of Scottish Executive Funding goes to the Edinburgh-based National Museums of Scotland and National Galleries (£17.17 million and £9.53 million, respectively), and to Glasgow Museums (£3 million in 2002/3). A further £1 million "Strategic Change Fund" of challenge funding exists to fund strategic museum developments across Scotland (with the exception of top-sliced funds for the three Scottish national industrial museums) and £1.19 million is left to fund the Scottish Museums Council and all grants for the hundreds of non-national museums in Scotland. With the exception of the Nationals, Scotland's museums responded to last year's audit of museum collections with an overwhelming call for national museum funding to be reviewed to meet the needs of the distributed national collections, held by cash-strapped local and independent museums.