SCOTS singer Nicola Cassells is used to surprising people with her diverse, exciting, unusual musical projects.

She is a classically trained soprano – but has happily paired up with hip-hop stars on The X Factor, sung at Heathrow Terminal 5 and even in the window of the House of Fraser department store on Oxford Street.

But her latest single and video was a surprise of a different kind to one of the people who know her best – her gran.

“I’d been looking for a project to mark the 10th anniversary of my first professional gig, and I kept coming back to a song called Somewhere in Time that I’d worked on with Sandi Thom,” explains the 27-year-old from Ayr.

“I’d always known the story of my gran’s evacuation and her time during the war, but when you’re younger, it all seems very long ago, and you don’t really think about what it must have been like.

“When I started doing some research, and reflecting on everything my gran had been through, I came up with the idea of doing a video project on her story.”

Nicola smiles: “She was a bit taken aback at first - but she has loved it.”

Nicola’s gran, Kathleen Dunsmore, was just seven years old when the Second World War hit Glasgow, and her home town of Clydebank.

She was evacuated, along with her brother William and sister, Janet, to Palnackie, a small village in Dumfries and Galloway where they went to live in Kirkennan House for two years. Their mother had to stay behind, as she worked in a munitions factory in Bishopton.

“Of course, we weren’t accommodated in the main house, we were installed downstairs in the servants’ basement with stone cold floors and dark rooms,” recalls Kathleen.

“But we were together and comfortable enough. We soon settled into a routine – walking two miles to Palnackie school in our wooden clog shoes, no matter the weather, carrying our packed lunches of lemon curd sandwiches – which we had to eat quickly because the bees loved the smell of lemon.”

She adds: “The main house was very grand. We were never allowed upstairs except at Christmas or if you fell ill, like the time Janet caught scarlet fever. She was allowed to sleep in a nice fluffy bed.”

“When we eventually returned home to Glasgow our bungalow seemed so small, but we were so happy to be back with mum and dad in our own house.”

Nicola wanted to capture the story of her gran’s wartime journey.

“I bombarded her with a million questions and we spent hours talking about it all,” smiles Nicola. “She laughs about some of it now, but it must have been terrifying.

“She talks of the noise of the bombs falling, and seeing the fires, and wondering if it would be her house next. She recalls the Clydebank Blitz, and how the house in front of theirs was blown up.”

She adds: “It was quite an emotional thing for her to recall too, of course, especially talking about her own parents.

“I wanted to do her story justice and get everything just perfect.”

Nicola recorded the video at Kelburn Castle and despite a snowy start – “we had to delay the filming, because we wanted a springtime setting surrounded by daffodils!” – everything went to plan.

She included old photographs from her gran, vintage accessories and even some lemon curd sandwiches.

She adds: “Once we had everything in place, it all just clicked. I’m really pleased with the video and my gran was too. There were a few tears when we watched it, from my papa too. It’s just been a really lovely project to do for them both as they have supported me so much.”

It was Kathleen who first taught Nicola the words to Somewhere Over The Rainbow, a song which became her signature tune when she was first starting out in her career.

“I loved singing from that moment on and both my gran and papa have always supported me,” says Nicola, adding with a laugh:

“My papa always sings my praises and then says – ‘but I’m her papa, so I might be biased!’”

At the age of 14 Nicola had her first experience singing in public as a soloist in local choir Ayrshire Voices, and she admits: “I couldn’t get enough and used to practise songs in my bedroom all night long. I spent hours and hours in my room pouring over every vowel, sound and note until I could perfect them.”

Her first big break came on STV show The Hour. During her lunch break at work in her local jeweller’s shop, she plucked up the courage to get up on stage in the shopping centre and perform Time To Say Goodbye. It was later broadcast on the show and the reaction was huge.

Since then, Nicola has performed at a variety of locations, from The Grosvenor in London at the Retail Trust Search for a Star Final competition in which she was crowned the winner in front of a 1200-strong crowd to on top of a double-decker bus at a fireworks show.

She has sung Flower of Scotland at the Scottish Grand National, wowed audiences at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, Kelvingrove Museum and Art Galleries and Dunblane Cathedral, and she also sang at the 50th anniversary of the Evening Times Scotswoman of the Year dinner.

“I don’t like to be pigeon-holed,” she admits.

“I am a classical singer, and that’s what I love, but I firmly believe you have to try everything once. Never say never!”

Growing up in Ayr, Nicola spent many happy days at her grandparents’ house in Cumnock, and she is still close to them.

“I speak to my gran on the phone every other day,” she says. “She means the world to me.”

The next year is especially busy for Nicola, with her single and forthcoming album release, her graduation from the University of the West of Scotland where she is studying commercial music, and the not-so-small matter of a wedding to plan.

“Yes, it is a bit hard to fit it all in,” she smiles. “John [Hunter, her fiancé] and I are getting married at Loch Lomond, and I can’t wait.”

The harpist has been booked, she says – and there won’t be a singer.

“I’m determined not to sing at my own wedding,” she says, with a mock frown. “Although, I always say that and then – who knows what will happen after a couple of glasses of fizz? Like I said - never say never…”