In the final instalment in our review of 2023 we're picking just a few of our favourite pictures from September, October, November and December - bet they all seem like a long time ago already!
Whose faces do you recognise in our final selection of snaps?
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There were celebrations at the Heritage Centre Cumnock after the visitor attraction was named among the best in the country at the Best of Scotland awards. Since its inception in 2020 the centre, located on the Caponacre Industrial Estate, has evolved and expanded to become home to more than 1,000 exhibits, including rare steam engines, trucks, cars, emergency vehicles, industrial machinery, agricultural implements and many ofher smaller displays and individual collection, including displays of police and firefighting heritage. (Image: Heritage Centre Cumnock)
The New Cumnock Development Trust brought its inaugural FitFest event to the Greenhead playing fields in September. The event was split into five zones and featured a huge inflatable assault course, a zipline and many other fitness-related activities. (Image: Charlie Gilmour)
Pupils and staff from the Robert Burns Academy hit the streets of Glasgow in October to help raise funds to send a Mauchline tot to the United States for potentially life-saving treatment. The pupils and staff raised £1,530 for the family of young Ava Bolton by taking part in the Great Scottish Run. (Image: Robert Burns Academy)
At the start of November we reported on how 11-year-old Angel Blackhurst had caught the eye in the World Solo Tenor Drumming competition in Glasgow. The Logan youngster was one of two local girls from the EPIC East Ayrshire Pipe Band Academy to compete in the World Championship for the very first time, with Angel finishing in second place – despite having only taken part in her very first solo competition just two months earlier – and her bandmate Chloe Donald, 12, from Netherthird, coming fifth. (Image: EPIC Pipe Band Academy)
The team at Nello’s Fish and Chips in Cumnock told the Chronicle how they were “proud as punch” in December after winning a ‘highly commended’ accolade at the Scottish Italian Award. The prize was voted for by members of the public – and the Nello’s team had no idea they’d even been nominated. Romana Vacca, who runs the takeaway with husband Nello and son Damiano, said: “It was a real surprise because the public had voted for us online. We didn’t know about it.” (Image: Charlie Gilmour)
An album of music inspired by, and dedicated to, miners who lost their lives at pits in Ayrshire and across Scotland was officially launched in Cumnock. The five track CD, ‘Darkness Into Darkness’, is dedicated to every UK miner who lost their life while working in the country’s collieries, with all proceeds going to the Scottish Mining Museum. All the tracks were written by members of local musical group Strings ‘n’ Things, pictured above at the album launch, under the guidance of singer-songwriter Findlay Napier and composer and Cumnock Tryst founder Sir James McMillan. (Image: Strings 'n' Things)
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