A NINETY-YEAR-OLD woman serving her fourth term as a County Durham town mayor has received one of the highest world-wide Rotary honours.

Great Aycliffe Mayor, Councillor Mary Dalton, has been handed the prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship recognising her long and dedicated service to the Newton Aycliffe community.

The great-grandmother was presented with the Rotary International certificate and badge by Newton Aycliffe Rotary Club president Denese Cartwright at a recent meeting.

"I started to cry," said Cllr Dalton, who has been a councillor in the area for 13 years. "I feel very proud to have been given it."

Former dinner lady and ambulance driver Cllr Dalton was shocked by the gesture which had been kept a secret by her son, Rotarian and former mayor Cllr Michael Dalton.

As well as being a full-time carer for her disabled 51-year-old son, the mother-of-two is a member of many organisations including the Pioneering Care Partnership.

Since stepping into the role for the fourth time in May last year Cllr Dalton has also been fundraising for the mayor's annual charity appeal.

Her chosen charities are the renal unit at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, the Scouts and Guides and Neville Parade Community Centre.

"Nobody can believe I'm 90 but it's the things I do that keep me going otherwise I'd be sitting moping at home," she added. "I love it and love meeting different people."

Originally from Holland, Cllr Dalton moved to the UK in 1947 after her late husband Reginald Dalton liberated her home town at the end of the Second World War.

The pair married in 1948 and settled in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, before moving to Newton Aycliffe in 1999.

Cllr Dalton was elected as a Labour councillor in 2003.

Reading from a citation at the presentation, Rotarian Syd Howarth said: "To take on the onerous duties entailed in being mayor is in itself a magnificent achievement for one year, but to take it on four times, and if I may say, at her mature age, is outstanding and will probably be a record for some time.

"Mary is the most willing and capable person we could wish for as Mayor and she always turns up at all her engagements happy and smiling ready to meet and greet everyone."