A TULLIBODY man who served Scottish and international communities for decades is to receive the highest honour in Scotland.

Former Clacks MP, MSP and Lord-Lieutenant Sir George Reid has been made Knight Companion in the Order of the Thistle, Buckingham Palace confirmed last week.

Born in Tullibody in 1939, Sir George has served the county at both Westminster and Holyrood while he also worked for 14 years in disasters and conflicts worldwide with the Red Cross, Red Crescent in Geneva and as director of the global campaign for the victims of war.

Since retirement from politics, he has been appointed an electoral commissioner and has chaired governance reviews in the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Welsh Parliament and of the National Trust for Scotland.

He told the Advertiser: "It's quite an honour for a Tullibody boy.

"I hope people will still keep calling me George though.

"It was a surprise. It has, of course, nothing to do with politics, nothing with government – it's purely in the gift of the queen [to appoint people to the order] and a complete surprise."

The Clacks man now stays in nearby Bridge of Allan and is currently a professional teaching fellow at the University of Stirling as well as a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Sir George, who also served as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, added: "I'm now 83, I'll continue doing what I'm doing which is teaching graduates at the University of Stirling, taking part in local community life and that's about it at 83."

He will be inducted into the order along with Dame Elish Angiolini at a service in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh on June 30.