THE co-owner of a Kincardine restaurant celebrated winning another award – little more than a week after undergoing brain surgery.

Hannah Trickett runs Faodail – A Lucky Find - in the village’s Excise Street alongside partner and head chef Michael Walsh, and added to their growing collection of accolades by being named best restaurant at the Fife Retail Business Awards last weekend.

The Rosyth couple opened their eatery, which was a nominee at last year’s Press Community Champion Awards, 12 months ago after taking over the premises of what was formerly the Unicorn Inn.

Since the birth of her daughter, who is now eight, Hannah has suffered from an incurable – and rare – brain condition that she described as leaving “too much fluid on the brain in places it shouldn’t be”.

She travelled to Glasgow for what she thought would be a routine check-up, only for doctors to tell her that she needed to undergo surgery.

“Winning the award was huge for us because we had a hard month,” Hannah said.

“I went through for a routine check-up but the doctors told me that they needed to keep me in, and I had surgery on the Thursday morning.

“It’s a really rare disease. I’ve had it since I had my daughter and it made me ill for a long time but you just get on with it.

“I’m glad that it’s been dealt with.”

After walking away as a winner at the Fife Retail Business Awards, she continued: “Best restaurant was the one we wanted, and we were up against massive, established places like Khushi’s, so we are really chuffed.

“We didn’t do this to get awards and it’s still completely alien to us for people to say they’ve nominated us for an award.

“But it’s never about winning. We always take nominations as a nod that we’re doing things right and it gets people talking about us.

“We’ve got some awesome staff, cracking customers and I have to thank them, our suppliers, our friends and family and all the people who have faith in us.”

In addition, Faodail have been shortlisted for the ‘Best New Business’ accolade at this month’s Scottish SME Business Awards, as well as for the ‘Best Newcomer’ and ‘Best Family Restaurant’ prizes at next month’s Scottish Entertainment and Hospitality Awards.