Tynwald Honour: Former teacher receives Isle of Man's highest award

Ian Cottier was presented with the Tynwald Honour in the Royal Chapel in St John's

A retired head teacher who was awarded the highest honour the Tynwald Court can bestow said it was "gratifying" to be put forward for the accolade.

Ian Cottier, 85, was presented with the Tynwald Honour in the Royal Chapel in St John's following the open-air sitting of the Manx parliament.

He also spent many years volunteering for several charities including Manx Blind Welfare and Isle of Man Hospice.

Mr Cottier said his nomination for the honour had come "out of the blue".

He also served on the planning committee for 13 years, has acted as a steward for the Friends of the Gaiety theatre for 30 years and has presented a radio programme dedicated to brass band music for more than four decades.

Born in Port St Mary, he went into the teaching profession, working at various schools in the UK before returning to the island in the mid-1980s.

He rose to the position of head teacher of St Ninian's High School in 1985, a position he held until his retirement in 1994.

Mr Cottier said it was "very nice" to be recognised for his efforts, however he said most of the voluntary work he had been nominated for carrying out was "for things hundreds, if not thousands of other people in the community" also do.

The Tynwald Honour is given to those who have made "an outstanding, lifelong and altruistic contribution to Manx life".

Mr Cottier was recognised for his public service to education, music and the arts, and his long-term voluntary work in the third sector.