County's famous ladies up for award

12:21pm Friday 21st September 2007

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TWO of Worcestershire's most famous women are being praised for their outstanding achievments.

Eighties pop star Toyah Willcox, who lives in Pershore, and retired race horse trainer Mercy Rimell, from Upton-upon-Severn, have been asked to join the prestigious Women of the Year Lunch. The highly established event, set up in 1955 by Lady Tony Lothian, brings together women from all ages, backgrounds and walks of life, and aims to recognise their individual achievements.

Ms Willcox is a singer, writer and actress famed for her outlandish style in the early 1980s. She had big chart hits with It's a Mystery, I Want to be Free, and Thunder in the Mountains.

She also won an award as Best Female Singer at the Brit awards.

This month she will star in ITV2's Secret Diary of a Call Girl alongside Billie Piper.

Mrs Rimell is the only women ever to train in Cheltenham Champion Hurdle. She was an assistant to her late husband Fred Rimell and after taking over the trainers license she won the Champion Hurdle in her own right. Now aged 88, she remains a well-known face in horse racing.

Every woman asked to attend the Women of the Year Lunch is invited in recognition of their contribution to society and achievements in their chosen field. Those invited are chosen by a council of over 40 women, including president Joan Armatrading and chairman Eleanor Angel.

The women at the event, which is held at the InterContinental Hotel in London on Monday, October 15, come from a number of professions, ranging from the arts to the financial business world, encompassing media, medicine, politics, charity work and agriculture.

This year's key note speaker is war correspondent Christiane Amanpour.