PUPILS at Muckhart Primary were left beaming with excitement after discovering they had inspired one of the songs on a legendary Scottish musician's latest album.

BBC Folk Singer of the Year 2018, Karine Polwart, sent the school a copy of her latest album, Laws of Motion, to say thanks for teaching her about Japanese gardener Shinzaburo Matsuo.

Headteacher Lesley McGlinchie explained to the Advertiser: "It was a few years ago that we did a project with a group, I believe the group was called Cultural Stirling.

"The project was called Heroes and Villains, and we picked a local hero and a local villain and wrote about them.

"Karine became involved with the school through that project."

The hero the school kids picked was Isabella (Ella) Christie, a legendary adventurer who was raised in Clacks and lived from 1868 until 1949.

Inspired after travelling the globe, Ella created a Japanese garden at Cowden in 1908 – a garden which recently re-opened to the public this year, after 50 years of being closed.

The garden was tended by Shinzaburo Matsuo, a Japanese man who lost his family in an earthquake, and came to Scotland to work in the garden until he died in 1937.

Karine's new album, released last month, features a song called Matsuo’s Welcome To Muckhart, which was directly inspired by what she heard from kids at Muckhart PS.

Lesley said: "The CD was sent in to the school from Karine, and she had used the information from that project.

"It was sent in just out of the blue; we got the CD in the post and the kids were delighted.

"They were all really excited, saying things like: 'That's our song.'

"They were just delighted with it all."