Hemyock

A devoted Hemyock community worker got to meet the Queen when she collected her MBE last month.

Heather Stallard went to Buckingham Palace with son Guy and Neil and daughter Margaret and said it was 'a day to remember.'

Heather told us: "It was great fun, which I hadn't anticipated.

"I thought it would all be very formal and it wasn't, apart from the actual ceremony when we went in one by one and had the insignia pinned on us.

"It was incredibly friendly and you felt very special. The palace was a fantastic place to be."

Heather also received a scroll signed by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, which she said she would be framing.

As well as being the chairman of Hemyock Parish Council Heather is also a founder member of the Blackdown Support Group, which now has over 100 members, secretary of the parish hall committee, a member of the AONB management committee and chairman of the Blackdown Business Association.

Heather said: "Community work is a way of life to me. I have always been involved with things.

"I am interested in people and how they live, work and play."