Worthy citizens Andrew and Catherine recognised

This year's Musselburgh Citizen of the Year award was last week presented to not one but two worthy locals.

Andrew Watt and Catherine McArthur were both handed the award last week for the hard work they do in their community.

Andrew, aged 67, is the president of local heritage group the Old Musselburgh Club and won the award for his dedication to the promotion of local heritage.

The former Lothian and Borders Police Chief Superintendent, who lives on Park Avenue with his wife Helen, is a native of the town, although left in his early career when he was working in different areas of Lothian. He has been back living in the Musselburgh area for 45 years.

Andrew is actually the third person from the Old Musselburgh Club to have been presented with the Citizen of the Year award but is very honoured to have been given it on this particularly special year - the club's 50-year milestone.

"I found it very poignant that a president of the Old Musselburgh Club has achieved this award on the same year that we are celebrating our golden anniversary," he said.

The awards were presented in the Brunton Hall on April 6. Andrew was cheered on by nine members of his family, including his wife Helen, children Susan and David and four grandchildren. Unfortunately Andrew's eldest grandson was unable to make the presentation as he was travelling back from Canada after spending the winter working on the ski slopes.

Andrew was in the police force for more than 30 years, retiring in 1993, before going on to study history at Edinburgh University. Since then he has been involved with many community projects. Andrew is keen to continue his work with the Old Musselburgh Club and says they have a couple of exciting new projects in the pipeline. "We will be erecting a storyboard at the Old Golf Course, telling the history of the golf course in collaboration with Musselburgh Racecourse."

The club will also be promoting a project which will see them giving copies of Paul Lambie's A Walk Around Musselburgh booklet to schools in the local area.

Andrew said "I never thought the kind of things I dealt with would ever be acknowledged like this. It's great that the council still honours people who do volunteer work."

Catherine McArthur is the chair of the East Lothian Tenants and Residents panel. She lives on Windsor Park with her husband Bob. The couple have three sons, David, Alex and Michael, a daughter Sarah and six grandchildren.

Both winners received a cheque for 100 and a bowl designed by artist Ronnie Elliot. The awards, which were sponsored by Musselburgh and Inveresk Community College, were presented to the winners by Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill, the former MSP for Musselburgh.