IT was standing room only as Create s Smile Scotland’s latest production was staged at Cumnock Town Hall.

Written by the group’s chief executive, Heather McEwan, the musical drama centred on football rivalry.

There is no love lost when Cumnock Juniors and Auchinleck Talbot play each other but romance blossomed between two of the characters in Am a Nock An You’re a Bot.

Heather spoke before the curtain went up and thanked the many organisations who had supported the event, including the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, whose generous donation enabled a state-of-the-art sound system to be bought.

There were also donations from Pollocks Farm Equipment, Hope Homes, The Riverside Centre, as well as both clubs and many others who had helped as the show was put together.

While the football aspect was the main point of Heather’s script, the area’s mining heritage was also included when the distraught families of miners come together when an emergency happens down the pit.

Playing himself, Community officer PC Craig Marshall reassures the wives and mothers as they await news — before he delivers a superb rendition of Bring Him Home, from the musical Les Misérables.

Another excellent singer took to the stage for the finale, Councillor Jim McMahon — both were advised by our reporter that they both COULD ‘give up their day jobs’ anytime.

The Chronicle itself features as the characters read reports of the football and other news, but the stars of the show were the cast and Heather McEwan...well done, the standing ovation at the end was well deserved.