GREAT-grandmother Frieda Minns (81) was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s honours list for her services over many years to the community in Sutton Bridge.
Liverpudlian Mrs Minns, of Chestnut Terrace, is a former parish council chairman who first came to her adopted village in 1948 while serving in the Land Army.
She said: “I stayed. I loved it.
“I love everything and everybody in Sutton Bridge. They have made me feel so welcome.”
Mrs Minns worked tirelessly with the youth club for many years as well as serving on the governing body with Westmere County Primary School in Sutton Bridge and Peele School at Long Sutton.
She also chaired both schools’ governing bodies and served 17 years on Sutton Bridge Parish Council.
Mrs Minns says she is “shocked” to have been awarded the MBE but is also thrilled.
She said: “It really is marvellous. I didn’t do what I did for any reward. I have just done what I wanted to do.”
Mrs Minns lost her husband, Basil, ten years ago.
She said: “He was a local man. He was just an ordinary farm worker and then he went to work on the river board until he retired.”
He was also a big support to his wife in her community work.
Land work was a way of life for Mrs Minns after she settled in the village.
She said: “Although I came in the Land Army, I have worked here on the land all my life and I have really enjoyed that whether it was fair weather or foul.”
Mrs Minns has three sons, 12 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Although in her eighties, Mrs Minns continues to work for the village and one of her proudest achievements is serving on the committee that delivered the newly-opened community centre.
She said: “It is tremendous and it really is badly needed.”
Mrs Minns is not the only person from South Holland with reason to celebrate in the New Year’s Honours list.
A Spalding nurse specialist in plastic surgery, Daren Edwards, has also been awarded the MBE for his services to nursing.
Mr Edwards works for the Barts and London NHS Trust. County-wide, Lincolnshire Police chief constable Richard Crompton was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for his service to the force.
Also, receiving an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in this year’s list were Jacqueline Howell, executive officer of the Jobcentre Plus in Lincolnshire, and Ursula Lidbetter, chief executive of the Lincolnshire Co-operative, who received the award for services to business in Lincolnshire.
Honours are delivered by the Queen twice a year – once at New Year and again in mid-June on the Queen’s official birthday.