Meg Farron of Blair Atholl, who raised more than £43,000 for Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance, has died aged 69.
She began fundraising in 2015 after Pitlochry Co-op, where she worked, held a raffle for SCAA.
Meg continued the work and over the years held raffles and baked for cake sales, all in her own time.
When she died, funeral directors W&K Gerrie, placed a donations box in the window of the Co-op together with a photograph of Meg the “legend”.
A total of £1,177 was donated at the Co-op and a further £1252 was given at Meg’s funeral. Her sister, Pauline Wilson, said she has since received £250 from people who missed the collections.
Meg had worked in the Co-op, previously Nisa, for 24 years and was held in great affection by the people of the town where she was named citizen of the year in 2017.
Margaret Kathleen Farron was born in September 1954, the sixth of Pat and Harry Farron’s 10 children.
She was educated at Blair Atholl Primary School and Pitlochry High School before starting work at a local guesthouse.
Not long after leaving school she met the love of her life, Jimmy Allan. They got engaged on her 20th birthday and although they never married, remained a couple until Jimmy’s death 42 years later.
Meg went on to work in hospitality across the Highlands including in Killiecrankie, Newtonmore and Inverness.
She had also been a popular member of the bar staff at the Tilt Hotel and the Roundhouse in Blair Atholl.
However, it was in her job at the Co-op that she shone most brightly. She kept a tin of sweets for children, some of whom grew up and took their own children in to see Meg.
Meg was known to keep a stock of Co-op membership cards behind the tills so customers who had forgotten their cards would not miss out on their dividends.
Some customers even memorised her working rota so they could visit the store when Meg was working.
All the fundraising for SCAA was done in her own time. She would secure prizes from local business; others she would buy herself.
Her family said: “Meg had a heart of gold and she will be very sadly missed by all her family, friends and the community.”
Conversation