A long-standing member of Roc Vannin Choir, who suffers with Parkinson’s Disease, has been honoured along with her ’supportive’ husband.

The choir announced Fiona and David Baxter as honorary members during a presentation at Elim Centre, Onchan, shortly after Mrs Baxter retired due to her illness.

The Onchan resident, a founding member of the choir who took on the role of social secretary, was pleasantly surprised by the gesture.

’We were absolutely shocked,’ she said.

’We didn’t know it was going to happen at all. David is not part of the choir, but he has been brilliant at helping people over the years. I’ve been in the choir since day one as I love a sing-song and have made many friends there.’

Since discovering she had Parkinson’s Disease just after her 50th birthday, 16 years ago, she has found it more and more difficult to keep up with choir practice.

’It’s just a nuisance,’ she said. ’I want to get on with my life as I have kept a very active life. I get very tired from choir practice and that made me stop enjoying it and the fact that I was relying on people to get me to practice was quite stressful.’

However, she is determined not to let her illness get the better of her. ’There’s always someone worse off than you I always think. It’s about having a positive attitude,’ she said.

’I encourage people with disabilities to join choirs. There are lots in the island and you don’t have to be standing up.’

Carey Chung, who chairs Roc Vannin which was formed in 2013, said: ’Fiona is a complete inspiration to all our members, nothing ever gets her down. Sshe’s always cheerful, sings with gusto and attends pretty much every performance we do. If we all had half her energy and good humour the world would be a better place.’

’Always by her side is the gentle giant David. He too has been a great supporter of the choir, as well as always being there for Fiona, we have always classed him as our unofficial roadie and even bought him a choir shirt. As with Fiona, we all find David to be inspiring - his patience and good nature is legendary, as his love and support for his wife.

’Unfortunately, earlier this year Fiona’s Parkinson’s deteriorated and she was finding it increasingly difficult to get to practice, so reluctantly she took the decision to step down from the choir.

’We all realised that this was a very difficult decision for Fiona and we wanted to make sure that both of them still had some sort of official connection to the choir, so the committee decided that we would make them both honorary members in recognition of all their hard work and dedication over the last five years.’

The choir has previously raised funds for Parkinson’s Isle of Man, of which Fiona is a member. She remains an active member of Onchan Royal British Legion.