A talented 14-year-old from Renton is ‘buzzing’ after winning £800 singing in a talent competition by finishing top in the first-ever contest she’s entered.
A fourth-year student at the Vale of Leven Academy, Alaya Mairaed Thomson won Flamingo Land’s Got Talent in North Yorkshire against some tough competition.
Alaya has been singing all her life and has done shows singing with Louise and Des McFarlane’s Singer Station school of music and has even performed at a number of weddings this summer.
The gifted teen had already won a free holiday for her and her family by making it to the final, but has spoken of how shocked she was to win the competition.
She said: “We visit Flamingo Land yearly, and I entered the competition randomly.
“It wasn’t even planned, I hadn’t decided on a song until I got there. In the first competition, I sang Free Fallin by Tom Petty, and then in the final, I sang Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls.
“I played them my own guitar which I brought just for jamming in the caravan because my wee sister and I sing and my dad plays the guitar, it was just a bit of fun. I got a free holiday to go down for the final for making it that far.
“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to win. Obviously, it would have been nice to, but it was honestly surreal when it happened.
“It was a tight competition, and all the acts were amazing, so to actually win was unreal.
“All I could think of was going home and telling my family and my wee papa that I won.
“It was a real confidence booster to win my first proper competition, I was buzzing.
“I could hear my family screaming and shouting from the audience.”
Alaya went to the holiday park with her mum Susie, dad Billy, little sister lily and French bulldog Teddy. Her mum took to Facebook to express her delight, she said: “I could not be more proud of my daughter Alaya. She was up against some fantastic acts. A fantastic night in our favourite place.”
