WELL-LOVED Dunfermline star Barbara Dickson will be lending her support to Sunday’s St Margaret’s Pilgrimage.

She will read one of the lessons during the Pilgrimage Mass at 3pm in St Margaret’s RC Church in Dunfermline.

Visitors from around Scotland are expected to attend this year.

Barbara Dickson said: “I feel the event is of such importance to Dunfermline and Scotland, both spiritually and culturally.

"I’m a native of the town and I’ve wanted to go for a long time.

"St Margaret is one of the most important women in Scottish history and her influence is still felt.”

The pilgrimage will begin with a joint ecumenical service with different denominations at Dunfermline Abbey, led by the Rev MaryAnn Rennie, minister of Dunfermline Abbey, and Father Christopher Heenan, of St Margaret’s RC Church.

Entitled: 'Pilgrims Together: Celebrating the Legacy of St Margaret', the service will pay tribute to the important historical and religious figure who introduced many aspects of life still known today in Scotland.

Most notably, she established a ferry crossing from Edinburgh to Fife for pilgrims travelling to St Andrews.

North and South Queensferry and the new Queensferry Crossing are named in her honour.

Fr Heenan said: "I’m delighted that St Margaret’s Pilgrimage will begin with a joint service in the Abbey.

"Margaret is an exceptionally important figure to Dunfermline as well as the whole of Scotland so it is fitting that a celebration of her life is as inclusive as possible."

Guides from Discover Dunfermline Tours will be on hand after the service in the Abbey to take people to visit local sites associated with St Margaret.

Suitable for families and children, the tour will last around an hour and include St Margaret’s shrine at the East end of the Abbey and the base of Malcolm’s Tower where Margaret and the royal household lived, as well as St Margaret’s Cave, which was her private place for prayer nearly 1,000 years ago.

Lochgelly Brass Band and local pipers will be playing to provide a festival atmosphere while the procession with the relic of St Margaret makes its way from the Louise Carnegie Gates at Pittencrieff Park at 2.15pm towards St Margaret’s Church, where Archbishop Cushley will celebrate Mass at 3pm.

After the Mass, individuals and families are invited to come forward to receive a blessing with the saint’s relics.