OBITUARY: Tribute to the remarkable - and fiery - Anne MacLean
Anne MacLean was born in and spent her early childhood in Falkirk where her father managed the Rosebank Distillery.
Holidays were spent in Grantown where her mother owned a house, Woodberry, at Speybridge.
She had two trips to India when her father was working on a Scottish Malt project there.
But at age nine she was sent home as a boarder in the Beacon School at Bridge of Allan.
At 18 she joined the Civil Service as a clerical officer in the then Air Ministry.
Working for an Air Marshall she had trips to RAF bases in the Middle East, Cyprus, Malta, the United States and Norway.
In 1963 she married an RAF officer, Robin Stuart, who was posted a year later to South Wales .
Anne re-entered the Civil Service in 1965 as a clerical officer with the National Assistance Board in Cardiff.
She became an active member of the Civil Service Clerical Association, first as a branch officer, then as a member of the union's National Executive committee
In 1969 their son Christopher was born and two years later they moved back to London where Anne returned to the DHSS.
She worked as the Trade Union side's elected assistant secretary on the department's council in their negotiations with management.
Professional union officers were so impressed by her that they urged her to apply for a negotiations officer post with the Society of Civil Servants.
She was successful and after a year with DHSS members she was promoted to assistant secretary.
The range of her duties covered successively the Department of the Environment, HMSO, the Scottish Departments, Home Office, the Lord Chancellor's Department, and the Ministry of Defence.
On top of all this, Anne was appointed to be the first women's officer of the union.
Anne's marriage ended in divorce in 1979 because of work pressures on the couple and she moved home to Ruislip Manor but continued to maintain and care for her son.
Anne remarried in 1982 to Alan Shute, former assistant general secretary of the union.
A merger of trade unions meant that she was offered early retirement in 1990 and the couple decided to move to Grantown.
Mr Shute said: “If anyone thought that retirement would be a retreat, they had the wrong woman.
“For starters we both joined up to work for the local branch of the Labour Party and the Inverness Constituency Labour Party.
“Anne, unfortunately, was succumbing to a sequence of illnesses. She began to lose her sight and was registered blind in 2001; thereafter guide dogs became part of her life.
“Then came remitting and relapsing MS which saw her confined to a wheelchair, and atrial fibrillation.”
Despite these ailments she continued to carry out much voluntary work in the strath and at a regional level.
These included serving 10 years on Grantown Community Council; being a founder member, fundraiser and later honorary life president for Grantown Museum and chairing the Dachaid respite organisation which helps those locally looking after dementia sufferers.
Anne was also the chairwoman of Albyn Housing Association and travelled extensively in the Highlands.
For this work, she was awarded the OBE in June 2003 which was presented by The Queen in London.
Mr Shute revealed: “The Queen patted Bunty (her guide dog) on the head and declared she had a noble head.”
She was also a board member of the RNIB and Sight Action and served for three years as convenor of the Scottish Government's Mobility and Access Committee advising on the problems of disabled travellers
Anne also served as an independent assessor on the Scottish Government's committee for Public Appointments.
Anne was for many years a leading figure within the Scottish Labour Party and sat on the National Executive Committee from 1995 to 2006.
She was elected to its chair in 2001 and presided at the party’s annual conference that year, the only blind person to have ever done so.
There were more than a few celebrations when colleagues in the Inverness party presented her with a crystal glass decanter, inscribed "Anne MacLean A Remarkable Woman".
Mr Shute said: “Anne truly was exceptionally active in helping everyone that she could.
“She is going to be missed even though she has not been able to be physically active outside for quite a while.
“Anne was a fiery individual and would often challenge received opinion and would get very irate when people under-estimated the difficulties faced by disabled people.
“She would also shout at the television quite a lot!”
Mr Shute said his wife was delighted to stay up and watch the Labour Party sweep to victory in the recent General Election.
Eleanor Mackintosh, Deputy Convener of the Cairngorms National Park Authority board, said: “Anne was a government appointee on the first CNPA board.
“She was a tremendous character and had all the time in the world to coach and share her very deep knowledge with people new to the board, like I was then.
“Anne played a major role in shaping the Cairngorms National Park Authority.
“Accompanied by her guide dog, she attended meetings, site visits and park events during her board tenure.
“Anne had a wicked sense of humour that helped keep us going through the heaviest day, and I will remember her fondly.”
Anne died unexpectedly, after a short illness at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness on Sunday 14 July.
A private cremation took place last Wednesday in Inverness.
A celebration of Anne’s life will be held at The Grant Arms Hotel in her home town of Grantown on Thursday 15 August at 12.30pm.
All friends are respectfully invited to attend. No flowers please. Donations, if desired, may be given to benefit Macmillan Cancer Support.
