A WEE County woman has been named winner of the World Championship Tam o’ Shanter Competition.

Susan Chown scooped first place in the contest hosted by Dumfries Ladies’ Burns Club No.1 and held in the legendary Globe Inn – frequented by Robert Burns himself.

She went up again five other competitors – some travelling from as fair afield as Richmond in Yorkshire – and opened the event.

After impressing the three judges with her performance of the poem – one of the most famous pieces from Robert Burns – she netted the top spot.

She said: “This was my first time entering the competition. I heard about it when I did Tam o’ Shanter at a Burns Supper in Alloa East End Bowling Club in February; one of the men at the supper told me all about the annual competition and suggested I enter it.

“The competition was pretty nerve-wracking, but exciting too, and it was lovely to see that the men who suggested I enter the contest were actually there. In fact, one of them was a competitor and came second. Everyone was very welcoming and supportive.”

One of the longer poems from Burns, Tam o’ Shanter is regularly recited at annual Burns Supper celebrations up and down the country.

It’s one that Susan, of Alloa, is quite fond of.

She said: “Tam o’ Shanter is such a wonderful poem to perform, so dramatic and funny. I think Burns would have been interested to hear it done from a female perspective.

“Though I am not a member of a Burns Club, the more I read his work, the more I want to and the more I can see opportunities for interesting and original performances of his pieces. His observation of people, and their best and at their worst, will always make him relevant and worth listening to.”