Caring Sheila’s £4M Windfall To the Needy

A retired art teacher has left a massive £4 million to charities across Scotland. Sheila Mair, 88, asked for the cash to be split between four causes close to her heart.

Miss Mair was also the secret benefactor behind anonymous donations of thousands of pounds to groups and individuals across the country.

Miss Mair, who was well known in Peterhead and lived in nearby Longside, died last June after a stroke.

She had been the principal art teacher at Peterhead Academy in the 1960s and 1970s.

And today it emerged that local parents, who needed to take their children abroad for medical treatment, would occasionally receive a sum of money through the post, accompanied by a short note, signed “Anonymous”.

Miss Mair sometimes helped gifted pupils through college by giving them cash herself but claiming it came from a bursary.

Her donations were funded thanks to her successful handling of a share portfolio owned by her father James who died in 1967.

She added to it by playing the stock market herself.

And according to Miss Mair’s will, her £4million fortune is to be divided equally between the Guide Dogs for the Blind group at Forfar, Marie Curie Cancer Care Scotland, the ex-services Erskine Hospital in Renfrewshire and Peterhead Hospital.

Miss Mair decided to leave money to Forfar guide dogs group after a spontaneous visit while driving through Angus with Mrs Macintosh.

She was keen to help Erskine Hospital, where her father was treated after losing an arm and a leg during World War I.

And Miss Mair wanted to thank Peterhead Hospital staff with a generous donation for treating her mother, Betty, when she fell ill.

During her final years, Miss Mair also gave money to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary’s first MRI scanner and boosted the Archie Foundation Fund.

A friend said: “Sheila was a practical woman who had a sense of fun. “She did all in her power to see that those who had talent fulfilled their dreams.”