A SMALL ceremony saw a painting of Violette Szabó, the Anglo/French spy who died during the Second World War, being presented to the Pilgrim Hotel in Much Burch.

The painting was originally donated to the museum dedicated to spy’s memory at Wormelow, which is curated by Rosemary Rigby, Violette’s aunt, who in turn presented it to the Hotel last week for it to be displayed in its Violette Szabó lounge.

The artist Duncan Brown, used an assortment of old photographs to create a painting of a teenage Violette, aged about 17 with jet black hair.

Rosemary said: “It an honour to see this beautiful portrait of Violette hanging on the walls of the Pilgrim Hotel.

“I love this lounge dedicated to Violette and the new portrait will help grace her presence even more ccxcxc.

“The painting was brought down from Scotland by the artist himself to the annual garden party in Violette’s honour in July. It was a complete surprise, and I knew nothing about it at all.

“The painting is so special. It has rays of sunlight appearing all around her and I don’t think I’ve seen anything as good as this as it captures her personality as well.”

The Deputy Lieutenant for Herefordshire, Paul Deneen said: “Rosemary’s passion for highlighting Violette Szabó has been amazing. I was present at the garden party when this painting was gifted by the artist, who was also an excellent bagpipe player, as an act of kindness.

“It just goes to show the amount of affection the public has for Rosemary for keeping Violette’s memory alive. I take this opportunity to publicly thank Rosemary and her team of volunteers in keeping the museum going.”

Violette Szabó will be remembered as part of the Remembrance Day commemorations at the War Memorial in Wormelow on Friday, November 6.