Well, Christmas is well and truly upon us. As we go to print, there is only a couple of days shopping till the big day.

Guys! It’s now time for us to do that all important shopping for our loved ones.

I think most of us guy presenters will be raiding the shops as you read this column.

At Irvine Beat FM, we have posted all our Christmas cards. David Hammond is the best postman we know.

Our Christmas Hamper competition is now in full flow. A winner will be drawn on Christmas Eve and literally minutes after the winner is drawn, the prize will be on its way to the lucky winner.

I have been asking some of the Irvine Beat FM team what their own personal highlights have been.

Here’s our very own Jen Imrie. “The highlight of 2014 at Irvine Beat FM for me was definitely the Marymass fireworks roadshow. It helped that I absolutely love fireworks. It was so much fun being part of the team, from giving out merchandise to some of the crowd and doing the cha-cha slide with the Marymass Queen & her Mary’s, to starting the countdown to setting off the fireworks! The team worked brilliantly together and had a great laugh at the same time…..” I was in the studio the other day and I caught up with Zac Nisbet. I asked him what is 2014 highlight was. He said: “As quite a reserved, shy kind of guy and definitely not one to push myself into the limelight. The highlight for me was conquering one of my fears. On Marymass Saturday, I was catapulted on to the Irvine Beat FM sound stage to introduce the bands who were playing live. Amazingly, I was not even the slightest bit nervous at all. In fact, it was difficult to get me off the stage, once I’d started. To be fair, I had the expert help of Ben Harrison and David Hammond, who helped me a lot. Most people said I was hilarious, which I can live with as it’s better than crap”.

Now, Zac and I go way back to the stone age days of hospital radio in Irvine and I’ve never known him to be shy!

Talking of the halcyon days of hospital radio, both Zac and I were working with our ‘Awesome 80’s’ maestro David Hammond back then. It’s great that so many of us are now back together. Here’s David! “Highlights for me were many. Seeing Nik Kershaw perform at the Harbour Arts Centre and meeting him after the show. I mean, he even visited the Irvine Beat FM studios.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure presenting my Saturday morning ‘Big Retro Breakfast Show’. It is just so busy with texts and calls, I just want to thank our listeners for their participation on the show. I’ve also enjoyed helping out with the organisation of the various promotions and competitions we have been running throughout the past year. Bring on 2015”.

Well, my own highlights have involved all the local bands and artists who have appeared on my Wednesday night Album Show. To have artists and bands performing three feet away from you is almost humbling. Last Wednesday I had my final session of the year. Sonic Templars just blew me away. They were amazing!

I look forward to meeting the many local bands and artists that I have already lined up for next year.

At Irvine Beat FM, we also run a training department. This is headed up up by Agnes Sliman. She told me about her highlight of 2014. “This year has been a fantastic year for the Training Department at Irvine Beat FM.

“Early in the year we were selected as a Big Music Hub by Youth Scotland, which has given us the opportunity to involve some of our younger volunteers in a training programme to become Big Music Champions, which resulted in them becoming peer mentors to a group of younger people from a local youth group.” “The Big Music Champions were also involved in the Commonwealth Games celebration at McGavin Park in Kilwinning, where our roadshow was a resounding success.” I personally hope each and every one of our listeners have a Merry Christmas, but I want to leave the final word to our Chairman, Jack Bennie.

“I would like to thank our listeners, advertisers, funders, partners and volunteers for their contribution to Irvine Beat FM this year. “Our first full year has been a fantastic experience and we could not have done it without all the support we receive.” I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and healthy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.”