A MINEHEAD woman received an honorary award from the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset on Tuesday – after friends plotted in secret for months to organise her nomination.

Jo Watts, 70, was awarded the British Empire Medal for her services to children and families in the Queen’s Birthday Honours earlier this year.

She received the award from Anne Maw, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset as a representative of the Queen, at a special ceremony held at Castle House, Castle Green, Taunton.

“It was a very lovely occasion,” said Jo, a former teacher and a volunteer for over 45 years.

“I don’t find these things easy and was a bit apprehensive, but it all went very smoothly and the Lord Lieutenant and the people who looked after us soon made me feel quite at home.”

She set up a branch of Home-Start, a leading family support charity, and chaired the local Save the Children charity three times, as well as organising many other community initiatives.

Jo was accompanied on Tuesday by two of the four friends who organised her nomination, former teaching colleagues Ross Owen and Glenys Harrison-Poole, and her sister-in-law Christine Gawsthorpe.

“It took my friends a couple of years to organise it all. They met in secret to arrange everything and I knew nothing about it until the offer came – so they were very excited on Tuesday,” she said.

Now it will be business as usual for Jo, who still works for Home Start, and is involved with the town’s Christmas Tree Festival which starts on November 30, in aid of Save the Children, which she has supported since she was 16.