Last-minute change scuppers teacher's Eurovision dream

A TEACHER'S dream of representing Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest has been crushed after an 11th-hour change of plan by organisers.

Nicola Barclay was selected from hundreds of entrants to compete in the knockout stages to pick Azerbaijan's entry for Eurovision 2011 and made the final of the national selection contest, which was due to take place on February 2.

However, a last-minute decision to change the date of the final to Monday meant Nicola, who didn't return to Azerbaijan from a skiing trip in France until the day before, was not able to compete.

The new date of the televised final didn't leave Nicola enough time to prepare. Not only did she have to learn and practise four new songs, one of them had to be in the native Azeri language and another was to feature some sort of performance - a band or dancers.

The 26-year-old, who moved from Livingston to Azerbaijan's capital Baku in August last year to take up a position as a PE teacher, said: "I'm pretty disappointed, but there's nothing I can do about it.

"It just wasn't possible to learn a song in Azeri and get a band organised for Monday."

The final was planned to take place on February 2, which would have given Nicola plenty time to return to Livingston for Christmas and New Year, go skiing, then fly back to Azerbaijan to prepare for the final.

The former Deans Community High pupil worked as a PE teacher at Whitburn Academy for three years before spending a year on secondment at Burnhouse School in Whitburn.