A KINAWLEY woman who has been awarded the Royal Maundy Gift from The Queen for her exemplary Christian service within the community says she is very humbled to be a recipient.

"I still can't believe it, honestly! I feel that anything I've ever done, any decent normal person would do," said modest Vi Breen, a member of Kinawley Parish Church, Diocese of Kilmore, who received the award ahead of Maundy Thursday (April 1), following a nomination by the Bishop of Kilmore in recognition of her years of support for the church and community.

Traditionally the gift – which consists of two leather purses, one red and one white containing bespoke coins with a low monetary value, but which embody the monarch's personal gratitude – is presented by the monarch during a special church service held on Maundy Thursday.

In normal circumstances, Mrs. Breen would have travelled to Westminster for the service and would have met The Queen in person, but unfortunately due to Covid-19 restrictions this could not go ahead.

Instead she received the gift via post, with an attached letter from Her Majesty.

"It was lovely to get the letter with The Queen's signature on it," Mrs. Breen told The Impartial Reporter.

Talking about her work within the church and the community over the years, Mrs. Breen said: "I'm 87 now, and for most of my life I've been involved with the church.

"I became a Christian when I was 13, and I've always been involved," she said, going on to explain that she is originally from Birkenhead, England, but came to Northern Ireland in 1963 as a missionary with the Irish Evangelistic Band.

"I did mission work around Fermanagh. Myself and another girl, we had a [mission] caravan.

"We started off in Derrygonnelly and then went up to Garrison, [then] round the other side of the lake to Boa Island and Kesh.

"I think I did four years doing that," she noted, adding that following her mission work, she decided to stay in Fermanagh.

"I just felt led to go up to the Erne Hospital to see if I could get a job up there. The matron said to me, 'If you want a mission, here's a whole hospital. I'm sending you off to train as a nurse'.

"So that's how I became a nurse," said Mrs. Breen, who later went on to work with the Alzheimer's Society for 11 and a half years, until they closed down.

She was also involved with an age scheme in Enniskillen where she helped bring pensioners shopping, and "little things like that".

Mrs. Breen highlighted that cross-community work has always been very important to her.

"To be involved in cross-community work, to me that's very important. I was on a committee, and when we had the funding we were able to have [cross-community] groups; we did calligraphy and glass painting," she said.

"I was also in the WI a long time ago, on the committee, and on the Mothers' Union. I was 34 years the branch leader of the Mothers' Union until someone kindly took the job off me," laughed Mrs. Breen.

"I support everything. It's just my life, it's what I'm happy doing, but I didn't expect something from The Queen for doing all that," she humbly told this newspaper.