WOODMILL High School pupil Clelland Shand is a world champion!

The talented musician travelled to France to take part in the World Accordion Championships and finished top in one of the two sections which he took part in.

Younger brother Inver, who attends Touch Primary, was also showing off his skills and he narrowly missed out on second place in his age group.

The boys are following in the footsteps of dad Gordon, who is an accomplished accordion player, while sister Blythe, 11, is a keen pianist and is British champion in the piano under-10s polka category.

Mum Ailsa was delighted with the family's latest success.

"Clelland is a very unassuming boy, he takes it all in his stride," she said. "They had to qualify in April at the British Championships where he had to play two pieces to see if they were at the standard.

"It was down to the South of France and we couldn't fly as we would have needed to split the accordions in half so we went by car and split it over two days.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, we never thought for a minute that they would come out so well."

Clelland, 12, took up the accordion when he was eight while Inver, nine, started when he was just six.

They travel to Dolphinton at West Linton every Sunday for their lessons with tutor Keith Dickson, who was nominated recently in the Tutor of the Year category at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards.

"We travel round quite a lot – it is very much a family thing. They all love it and it is great they do it as a family," said Ailsa. "They go to Carrickfergus in February and that is the Northern Ireland accordion championships and that is also the qualifier for the British competition in Liverpool in April.

"They will also have the Fife Music Festival and the national accordion and fiddle championships. There is a lot coming up so it is a busy time.

"They have seen so may different places and the friendships made out of it are phenomenal. It is a great experience and going out there, it is a whole different world and a lasting memory they are going to have all their lives."