Aberdeen woman named a 'Woman of the Year' for tireless 40-year volunteering career

An Aberdeen woman training to be a Church of Scotland deacon has been recognised at the Women of the Year awards.

Angie Mutch was honoured for her tireless volunteering work over a period of nearly 40 years, which has taken her all across the globe from earthquake-stricken nations to countries overcoming health crises.

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.

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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.

Raised in the Mastrick area of the city and currently living in Stonehaven, 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.

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.

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."

Women of the Year is a not-for-profit organisation run by a committee of volunteers. The women are handpicked in recognition of their determination, bravery, skill, passion and spirit that often go unnoticed.