The talented singer-songwriter is Ayr’s own homegrown pride. Marie, 23, derives her stage name from her real one- Claire Latham. She was trained at the Ayr Academy itself, and went on to a successful career outside her home town. She has lived south of the border for more than six years now, first in Manchester, and then, presently, in Liverpool.

And now, she comes back home to perform at her old school on behalf of the senior charities committee. You’ve just got to be proud of the girl.

Marie recently cleared the regional finals of Open Mic UK 2009, a national musical talent hunt competition where she wowed the judges with the distinctive and soulful, acoustic style of singing. The winner gets the dream-come-true prize of recording their own professional album with a vocal specialist of the industry, and the chance to tour the whole United Kingdom.

Here’s wishing her the very best!

Kids from Colmonell, Girvan, Ayr, Troon, Pinwherry and Prestwick- members of the South Ayrshire Percussion Ensemble- went all the way to London to be given a masterclass in percussion instruments, where, incidentally, two out of the three musicians giving the class turned out to be from Ayrshire themselves. John Blease from Prestwick, now a recording artist and session drummer, and Alan Dale from Kilmarnock, now a theatre and session drummer, were nearly as thrilled to teach their young charges as they were to be taught by them.

They appreciated the enthusiasm of the budding young talents, two of whom even got to see their tutors at work. For both Xavier Aubad from Colmonell and Marco Sisi from Girvan, the experience of was simply unforgettable.

The kids learned about different music styles, including rock, pop, and jazz, and about exactly what the life of a professional drummer consists of. The group also attended two of London’s biggest shows – Stomp and Wicked – to see exactly what life was like on a West End stage. For all of them, it has been something of a life changing experience, and they are fired up to make it big in the music world themselves in the future.

Their trip was made possibly courtesy of Youth Music Initiative.

Given that the aforementioned 1989 St Leger won by Henry Cecil’s Michelozzo was probably the last time Auntie in London had taken an interest in the Scottish venue, it was no surprise to discover the report showing a potentially calamitous seven horse pile-up which, miraculously, failed to seriously injure or maim any horses or jockeys.

Way back in another life, some three stone lighter and obviously bonkers, I fell off more horses at speed than I care to remember. Although I was lucky enough never to tumble off during a race, I’ll never forget approaching the second last hurdle at Ayr one filthy, February Saturday, leading a six horse field but with one foot flailing around trying to find a lost stirrup iron some 10 strides from take-off.

The thought of going down and having five rivals gallop over me focused the mind and I jumped the hurdle with both feet in the pedals and safe to ride another day. However, as Monday’s Ayr PR disaster proved, a herd of animals careering around at speed is an accident waiting to happen and the venues hosting such events have to provide a safe arena.

A four person guest of the director’s package went to Specsavers of Ayr. Peter Wilson funeral director won a framed and signed United shirt. Chairman Lachlan Cameron paid £550 in the auction for a four ball at Gleneagles, venue for the 2014 Ryder Cup. A round of golf for three at Loch Lomond’s Carrick Golf Club fetched £375 from Charlie Johnston of plumbing and heating engineers Johnston & Graham. Among the other auction items was a match day coaching package for youngsters. Gordon McBlain of Home Bakers paid £110.

United commercial director Hugh Cameron said: “We were delighted with the response and thank everyone who supported us.”

PULSE Recording Studio is currently filling a vacuum in the Ayrshire music scene, with a fully professional recording studio available for hire.

The Darvel music festival which attracts a whole community of talented nationally as well as internationally has entered into a partnership work with PULSE-CD compilation. There are also some small scale projects such as the Young Scot overload team in North Ayrshire aimed at stimulating live music for young people.

A partnership is also to be built with Wrecked Chord Records (Ayrshire label aimed at developing local talent). They host Acoustic open Mic nights on the first Monday of every month inviting bands/artists from all over Ayrshire and beyond to perform and share their music.

A variety of Homecoming 2009 events will take place throughout the year all over Scotland, but what better way to mark the birth of our most famous poet than by taking a trip to his birthplace, Ayrshire. The Homecoming Scotland celebrations will officially get under way on Burns’ birthday, January 25th. Plan your trip to coincide with this and you can enjoy your traditional Burns supper of haggis, neeps and tatties, followed by the obligatory dram in the footsteps of the bard. For those travellers who prefer to wait until spring to visit Ayrshire, the month of May holds another major celebration of the area’s most famous literary son.

Mr Neil met with Ayrshire Housing’s board foe the discussion of the prospects for more affordable housing locally. Paul Torrance, Ayrshire Housing’s chairman, commented: “We were impressed with Mr Neil’s frankness about the difficulties that we have getting new affordable housing projects underway at the moment.

However, he has some very interesting ideas about how the councils, housing associations, the private sector and the Scottish Government can work in new ways to deliver much-needed new housing.