Poets paradise on our doorstep

WE REVISIT DEREK PARKER'S RAMBLES THROUGH RENFREWSHIRE

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The return of Spring to the Paisley countryside was poet Robert Tannahill's favourite time of the year.

Our town's weaver bard immortalised the season of rebirth with time-honoured lines which still gladden the hearts of generations of Buddies at home and abroad.

Favourite verses include: 'Gloomy winter's now awa, saft the westlan' breezes blaw. 'Mang the birks (birches) o' Stanely shaw, (wood) the mavis (thrush) sings fu' cheerie, O. Sweet the crawflower's (bluebell) early bell decks Gleniffer's dewy dell, blooming like thy bonnie sel; my young, my artless dearie, O'