Norma, who retired at the end of last year, went by the title of fundraising manager for the north and east of Scotland and during her nine-year tenure she oversaw the collection of a staggering £10,212,000.42. Despite leaving her position, she plans to continuing her involvement with the charity in a volunteer capacity.

Looking back, Norma believes that it was raising awareness that proved the key to her success. She maintains that it was the endless procession of after-dinner speeches, public engagements and events where she discussed CHAS that her most important work was carried out.

Norma was only the fifth person to be taken on in a professional capacity by the fledgling CHAS nine years ago, only a year after the organisation was founded.

Now, in 2004, there are over 100 paid positions and well over 500 volunteers who tirelessly work with CHAS on a daily basis, at Rachel House in Kinross, in administrative roles and all over the country in the community groups who hold a wide variety of events to raise money for the charity.

“I was a fundraising manager for the British Leprosy Relief Association when I saw the advert for the CHAS job. I was lucky enough to get it and since then CHAS has become my life,” Norma said.

She explained that her first job in her new role was to establish a proper system for fundraising within CHAS.

“Due to the fact that CHAS was new, there was little formal structure to fundraising activities. Despite this, they had managed to raise an impressive £70,000 during that first year of operation.

“They did need to step up a gear, however, and when I came to the role it was with a blank page and I drew up methods for taking the fundraising side of things forward.”

Day to day, Norma was based at the CHAS fundraising office in Kinross, in reality she spent little time there. She would read the mail and write thank you letters to people who had made contributions, but more often she was on the road, making speeches, and showing volunteers how to make a success of their fundraising enterprises.

“I saw my role as an awareness raiser. Getting the message across goes hand in hand with raising money.

“It was my job to show people that there was a need for the services provided by CHAS and to illustrate to parents of children with illnesses that there was somewhere they could go to get help.

“If people did not realise the need for these services then they would not be inclined to support us.

“I made it my job to ensure that as many people as possible knew about the work of CHAS, I felt it was crucial.”

Apart from making numerous after-dinner speeches and attending many public engagements to raise the CHAS profile, Norma would also spend a lot of time talking to volunteers, giving them advice and guidance on how to go about raising money.

“We have been lucky to be assisted by a large and extremely loyal group of volunteers who have worked hard to raise all the money during my time with CHAS,” she continued.

“I would visit these community groups, or friends groups as we call them, in places as far apart as Stirling and Orkney and almost everywhere in between. It is amazing how much people have put into helping CHAS.

“We have also established Volunteer Conferences over the past few years where people who have helped from all over Scotland can come together to find out how their money is helping the cause.

“It is our way of saying thank you and showing our appreciation for all the hard work and effort they put in.

“I would also personally like to pay tribute to all the individuals and groups like Rotary who have given up time and made a lot of effort to raise cash for us.”

During the years Norma spent with CHAS, she witnessed the charity’s rapid expansion, with the construction of the Rachel House hospice in Kinross, which provides on-site care for children and their families.

Norma remembers the sense of elation that CHAS members felt after the hospice opened in 1996, but the beginning of that phase also gave her increased impetus to continue fundraising, because the new facility needed a constant supply of cash to keep things running.

She was also on hand for the early part of the fundraising for the charity’s second hospice, which is currently under construction at a six-acre site adjacent to Balloch Castle Country Park, by Loch Lomond. It is expected to open towards the end of this year.

The best memories Norma has of her time at CHAS, however, are of simply watching people raising money for the cause.

“It was great to watch things develop. There was nothing better than having someone come to us with a fundraising idea and watching that idea become a reality and a successful fundraiser.

“We would always be around to offer encouraging responses and seeing the pleasure people got from having a successful event will be a memory I will always treasure.”

Although Norma officially bade farewell to CHAS at the end of the year, she admits that tearing herself away from what she describes as having been “her life” will not be easy.

“I will not be severing my ties with CHAS completely. I will still be making the odd speech in a volunteer capacity.

I think I will continue to raise awareness of CHAS even if I am no longer an employee.

“When something has dominated your life to the extent that CHAS has over the past nine years it is very difficult to just walk away and I don’t want to do that.

“Fortunately I have a very able successor, Barbara Osborne, who has worked with me for the past three years and I wish her every success in what is a hard-working but extremely rewarding role.”

Apart from her ongoing, if slightly reduced, commitment to CHAS, Norma, who is married to retired management consultant Bill and lives in Auchterarder, intends to spend time catching up with the people and pastimes that have fallen by the wayside due to her busy working life.

A keen genealogist, she is planning to trace her family tree, catch up with old friends and if she gets the chance, tend the garden and enjoy the odd game of bridge.

The colleagues she leaves behind at CHAS have also paid tribute to Norma. Agnes Malone, CHAS Chief Executive, said, “She was a real asset.

“In her time with us she personally raised over £10 million for CHAS. She was CHAS’ very first full-time fundraiser and we are very sorry to see her go.

“She literally travelled from one end of Scotland to another drumming up support for CHAS.”