Annie was born in Glasgow and grew up in a large extended family. She shares many happy memories of a magical time with holidays in Millport, looking out onto Ailsa Craig. Enjoying hot summers when she could fry an egg on the hot rocks. When she was five, the family moved to Inverness as her father got a promotion. It was hard to leave family and friends behind.

In her teenage years she was a free spirit, experiencing romance and heartbreak, with a feeling that she ‘didn’t get boys’ but not seeing any alternatives. At 18 she moved to Edinburgh to study and had a difficult time, with a sense of isolation and struggling with her identity. Aged 21 she finally had her first relationship with a woman, followed by more heartbreak and a 7 year relationship in the closet. She felt oppressed by a sense of rejection and persecution. That all changed eventually in the safe space of all-women groups, being involved with Pride Edinburgh and a powerful and successful campaign to stop violence against women, Zero Tolerance.

In 2000 a series of losses, a traumatic accident and the diagnosis of a chronic degenerative disease brought her to Findhorn. She had visited before with her partner, but when asked to hold hands to bless the food in the Community Centre, she refused and walked away saying ‘I don’t hold hands with a group of hippies’. This time she did Experience Week and at the end another participant took her to a Centini which was for sale and told her that she would buy that house. After seeking guidance in the Original Garden she got ‘go and see the house’ which she did. She returned to the Original Garden and got a sum to offer, which she did and within the hour the house was hers.

Returning to Edinburgh with the plan to resign, her boss offered her a job in Aberdeen which she took and for 3 years she worked 3 days a week in Aberdeen and lived the rest of the week in the Centini. After the Caroline Myss workshop on Fate & Destiny she resigned from her job and travelled to the island of Lesbos for a life of joy and self-expression through drama, music and cabaret with other lesbians. She returned there many times. She still hadn’t landed in the Community, feeling she was here for her own journey, to heal and change her life.

She discovered Taize Singing and was taught the tenor part of many songs by Fay Blackburn.

In 2015 she became a NFA Councillor for 2 years but then her focus shifted back to her family as she looked after her mum for 3 years before she died in 2020. She then rejoined the NFA council and in 2022 was elected Listener/Convener in a job share with Dürten Lau.

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