By Cameron Brooks of The Church of Scotland
A Stonehaven woman training to be a Church of Scotland deacon has been recognised at the Women of the Year awards.
Angie Mutch, who is pictured with Strictly star Dame Arlene Phillips, was honoured for her tireless volunteering work over a period of nearly 40 years.
She was among 450 women from around the world who were recently acclaimed at a celebratory lunch at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London to celebrate the not-for-profit organisation’s 70th anniversary.
They included Yulia Borisovna Navalnaya, a Russian public figure and economist and widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, artist Dame Tracey Emin and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse OBE, who is known for her work on food safety regulations.
While the charity awards special honours to a select few among the attendees, its ethos holds that each guest at the annual lunch is celebrated as a “Woman of the Year” – people whose exceptional efforts today to make a difference to the lives of others are paving the way for the women of tomorrow.
Angie is currently in her third year of training to become a deacon and on placement at Devana Parish Church in Aberdeen with Rev Peter Johnston and Rev David Stewart.
She began volunteering at 18 and next year will mark 40 years of her dedication.
Her volunteer work has taken her around the globe, from leading medical training in earthquake-stricken Armenia to supporting East Berliners after the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany.
However, her most treasured memories are from the 1980s when she worked with the Haemophiliac Society, specifically children infected with HIV/AIDS through a pharmaceutical product (Factor 8 and Factor 9) — a tragedy now known as the Contaminated Blood Scandal.
During a time marked by stigma, fear and widespread misunderstanding of HIV/AIDS, Angie recalls offering a compassionate hug to a woman who felt isolated and rejected by those around her.
In another memory from her years of volunteering, she remembered finding a six-year-old boy collapsed on a bathroom floor.
He was rushed to the hospital but he died the next day.
His family, unable to reveal his illness due to the intense stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS, bore their grief in silence.
Tribute from South Africa
Angie was stunned when at the Women of the Year 2024 lunch, Her Royal Highness Princess Zama-Zulu Shange of the Zulu Royal Family in South Africa approached her quietly to present a private and heartfelt gift – a piece of jewellery crafted especially for the deacon in training.
The Princess wore the piece on her journey to London, then removed it and placed it on Angie’s hand.
The deacon in training was told that in South Africa, the gift and gesture is regarded as equivalent to an OBE in the UK.
Given South Africa’s profound struggles with HIV, the gesture held deep personal significance for both women.
Deacons are ordained to a life-long office and offer a pastoral ministry of word and service.
They work on the margins of the Church and society and find it natural to be bridge builders, meeting people where they are and developing new forms of ministry and worship.
Reflecting on the lunch, Angie said she felt “privileged” to receive an award from Her Royal Highness Princess Zama-Zulu Shange.
“As I looked around the room at all these incredible women, including the top award winner, Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of the late Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, who was poisoned and then killed in a Russian prison, I was struck by an immense feeling of imposter syndrome,” she explained.
“I wondered what on earth I was doing there.
When I voiced this to my table host, herself a retired Army Colonel, she said to me that I had just as much of the right to be there as everyone else, as I had undertaken work just as important, in other ways.
“As I mingled and spoke with other award winners, I was struck more than anything by the fact that, although these women had done amazing things, they displayed such humility, underplaying their achievements.”
Angie said Jesus showed people that the greatest way to deal with recognition is humbleness, an example shown by the late Mother Teresa.
Women of the Year is a not-for-profit organisation run by a dedicated committee of volunteers, whose aim is to continue the legacy of founder Tony Lothian by recognising, celebrating, and advancing the achievements of women across the UK and around the world.
The women who gather for the lunch each year are from all walks of life and are handpicked in recognition of their determination, bravery, skill, passion and spirit that often go unnoticed.
Feature image – Angie with Dame Arlene Phillips
Images are courtesy of Angie Mutch and The Church of Scotland