'I'm very humbled' – MBE marks Moray teacher, historian and artist's decades of service
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A RETIRED teacher has been left "very, very in awe of the whole situation", after receiving a royal honour for committed service to Moray voluntary groups.
Mary Elizabeth Byatt (83) was appointed an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the King's Birthday Honours List, from June 16, for her decades of serving local "education, art and charity".
"It was totally unexpected," Mary said.
"I'm very humbled by the award.
"I didn't expect it – I thought it had just been a normal life."
Mary began her community efforts in the 1970s with the Scottish Children's League of Pity, which later became Children 1st Scotland.
She was also a linchpin of the Elgin Museum and the Moray Society – a relationship which began in 1994 after she was asked to organise monthly lectures in the Museum Hall.
As well as these lectures, she also organised a Jacobite feast at Spynie Palace and helped past curator, and long-time committee member, Susan Bennett operate the Elgin Museum Discovery Club.
Mary also helped turn plans to refurbish the "beautiful little museum" – built in 1843 and one of the UK's oldest – into reality.
Aided by two successive National Lottery Fund grants, the museum committee refurbished both the building's exterior and the internal displays.
The museum was reopened in 2004 by historian Professor Tom Devine.
Mary has also penned several books on Elgin's history and said Ms Bennett's guidance and expertise was key to their completion.
This literary bond was shown in 2012 book Women of Moray.
Organised by Ms Bennett the book, to which Mary contributed, tells the stories of over 70 incredible women from Moray's past.
The book was short-listed for the Saltire Society Scottish History Book Prize in 2012 and was Moray's second most-read non fiction book of 2021, an impressive nine years after its release.
Mary said her work with the museum, and with other causes, was often undertaken alongside husband David – who passed away in 2012.
He was awarded an MBE in 2005 for his own public service.
The pair were central to creating and operating the Moray Gig, a training vessel at Findhorn used to develop teamwork and traditional seamanship skills.
Efforts to create the Gig began in 1998 and culminated in King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, officially naming the Gig at a 2001 ceremony.
As secretary of the Moray Gig for over 20 years, Mary wrote and published at least 50 newsletters.
She is also a board member of Atlantic Challenge GB, a trust closely linked to the Gig which has previously given Moray youngsters the chance to compete in an international sailing contest.
Mary worked part-time at Moray schools for around 20 years, teaching science at S1 and S2 and biology to older pupils.
She said she "very much enjoyed all of the schools" at which she taught.
Starting at Lossiemouth High School in the 1970s, she moved on to Speyside High School and Gordonstoun, before working at Forres Academy in the 1990s.
Mary, a retired Deputy Lieutenant, was also a long-time member of the Arts Society Speyside.
Getting involved in the 1980s, when the society was still named Nadfas (National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies), she was also part of the Church Recording group led by Marion Yool.
Through the group, which has catalogued the architecture and artefacts of Moray's kirks, Mary documented the metalwork of four Moray churches: Birnie, Gordon Chapel, St John's Forres and Pluscarden Abbey.
As well as appreciating art, Mary is herself an artist widely-known for her paintings of flowers.
She received a Gold Award from the Royal Horticultural Society, following an exhibition in London, for a collection of paintings titled Rhododendrons of Blackhills Garden.
Mary also won other awards for her work in following years, despite "competing with large artists and people all over the world".
She has also been involved with the Moray Field Club, a group formed in 1971 to celebrate and to share knowledge of the area's nature, history and archaeology.
The group hosts monthly walks in the summer and, in winter and early spring, a series of lectures.
