A RETIRED GP who has served her local community and the wider West Somerset area for decades has been awarded a MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours. The accolade recognises Dr Winifred Anderson's dedication to West Quantoxhead, a village that has been her home for more than 60 years. Dr Anderson - formerly Kingsbury - retired from the Williton and Watchet practices 20 years ago. But now aged 90, she is still a lay preacher with the Quantock Coast Benefice and a serving member of West Quantoxhead Parish Council. Widowed when she was just 40, Dr Anderson married her second husband Gordon Anderson six years ago. Her links with West Somerset began in the 1950s when she took up a post working in the field of tuberculosis care and treatment in Taunton at the start of her career in medicine. But her love of the area was sparked at the age of ten when it became a favourite holiday destination for her family. "I was a Brummie - we lived in Birmingham but we always loved coming to West Somerset," Dr Anderson told the Free Press this week. "The countryside here meant so much to us." When it became clear that her career would be firmly rooted in the West Country, her parents also relocated to West Quantoxhead, where she and her mother became founding members of the village's Women's Institute branch and where she also helped launch a choir. The national honour, announced last weekend, also recognises Dr Anderson's commitment to West Somerset and her involvement in a range of organisations, including the Dunster Show Society, of which she was president in 2006, and the St John Ambulance. However, she admitted the news had left her shellshocked. "It came completely out of the blue - I had absolutely no idea," she said. "I really couldn't believe it. "I did a job for the love of it and I have always loved living here. "But it is a tremendous honour to receive this award." Photo: Rebecca Overton