After a year of delays due to coronavirus, Ayr Writers’ Club finally managed to get together and have a spectacular celebration to mark its 50th anniversary.

The first official meeting of the club was held on October 7, 1970, and since then it has gone on to enhance and inspire writers across the area, turning the club into one of Scotland’s elite writing clubs.

Wednesday, September 27 saw members of the club get together in-person for the first time in a long time, to combine their special anniversary celebration, as well as their awards dinner for the 2020-2021season.

The Savoy Park Hotel in Ayr was the scene of the celebration, bringing together members new and old to have a catch up after so long away.

Carolyn O’Hara, an archivist for Ayr Writers’ Club, said the night was beyond her wildest dreams and it was emotional being able to see and speak with each other in person again.

She told the Advertiser: “It was an absolutely spectacular night and it was exactly what everyone was needing.

“Our awards dinner is a very important part of our calendar, so to be able to couple it up with our 50th anniversary celebration made it all the more special.

“Of course, we would’ve planned our anniversary celebration last year but things got in the way, and then we had initially planned to hold an even earlier this year, but we were never sure what was going to happen.

“It was amazing to see everyone in person again because there’s only so long you can do things virtually because nothing beats that human interaction and actually seeing people.

“The award winners were all so worthy of their prizes, but I think everyone in the club deserves enormous credit for the past year and still making the club what it is today”.

During lockdown, the club took on new members, including a lady from the Isle of Coll, who made the effort to be at the dinner on the night.

Carolyn added: “There was a lady who joined us from the Island of Coll.

“So the question to her was ‘why us?’, and she said had done her research and said it looked like the kind of club she wanted to be a part of, so it shows how far reaching our club is”.

The club is planning to return to in-person meeting from the beginning of November, if plans allow.

Carolyn said: “We’re all looking forward to getting back to actual meeting and being with people on a more regular basis, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we can get back to that at some point in November.”