A TRANENT woman has been honoured by the Pope for services to the Catholic Church.

Fiona Stewart, now resident of Banff in Aberdeenshire, was awarded the Benemerenti Medal for her 42 years of service to the church.

Fiona has been singing at Tranent’s St Martin’s RC Church since she was eight, later playing guitar at services, and continued to do so throughout her teenage years and even came back on weekends when she studied at the University of Dundee.

After moving to Banff in the early 1990s, Fiona, 50, dedicated herself to her job as a senior solicitor at Aberdeen Council and to Our Lady of Mount Carmel RC Church, Banff – as secretary of the parish council, chair of the finance committee and 20 years as chief musician.

This commitment to her church and its parish was recognised by the congregation, who nominated her.

The nomination then went to the Bishop, who agreed, and took the request to Rome, where he collected the Papal award for Fiona, surprising her with it last month.

She said: “I had no idea this was happening. I was getting ready to play the guitar for the end of service when Father Colin Stewart presented me with the award.

“I was in shock, there was a large applause, and I was just shaking my head thinking ‘no way’!

“I was presented with a medal and a framed certificate from the Pope, and the congregation had made me a cake shaped like a guitar, which was really lovely. We had a tea party to celebrate.

“I’m still really taken aback. People kept saying to me ‘it usually gets presented to really old people and rarely to women’ so you can imagine how proud I am to have received it.

“My parents are also really proud and astonished!

“I can’t wait for my visit to see them and come back to St Martin’s to play and sing, as I always do when I’m through. It’s part of who I am, and I love coming back.”

Fiona’s parents, William and Zuzanna Stewart, live on Tranent High Street.