Clackmannanshire was the first council area to call its Scottish Independence Referendum results.

At 1.28am on Friday morning (19 September), the Wee County declared an 89 per cent turnout with 19,036 votes in favour of No, 16,350 for Yes and 24 rejected.

Clacks’ moment in the spotlight was covered live from the count by the BBC, STV and Sky News. It was reported by other print and online media who were also present and relayed around the world by the likes of the Bangkok Post and CNN.

In the run up to the all-important vote, Financial Times reporter Matthew Engel followed the county’s Yes team for a week and was told by a pro-independence supporter after the declaration, “It’s a bit like the World Cup. We’ve failed to qualify again.” The word ‘Clackmannanshire’ trended at a worldwide level on Twitter for the three hours after the announcement – with many punters taking to the internet to find out where our Wee County nests.

As one person queried, “Is Clackmannanshire real? Is that not where the Family Ness was set?” The declaration was held responsible for the pound’s rise against the Dollar and the Euro, and the council’s social media channels also received unprecedented levels of interaction, including a retweet by The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci to his 403K followers.

Counting Officer Elaine McPherson said, “As Counting Officer, my top priority was the accuracy and integrity of the count.

“The fact that we managed that, while also being first to declare is a matter of great pride for me and real distinction for the team who delivered the smooth and professional count process.”