Belated but warm congratulations to May Storrie, who was awarded a CBE in the New Year honours in recognition of services to business and philanthropy.

May was a former President of the NAEA in the nineties – as her husband Donald had been in the eighties.

May Storrie set up Donald Storrie Estate Agents in Scotland in 1973.

Her husband joined the business once it could support them both, and together they built it up to 32 offices before selling to Nationwide in 1987 for £15m.

Their achievement was remarkable, since Scotland was dominated by solicitor firms in the estate agency market.

Donald became head of Nationwide’s UK estate agency business, while May ran Nationwide’s Scottish business.

Tiring of corporate life, they bought back their old business name, before retiring to leave their son Stuart to run it.

Donald became chairman of the Big Build Appeal, raising £16m to build the Marie Curie Hospice in Glasgow.

He himself died there in 2012 just five weeks after falling ill with lung disease.

May has continued with her active support of charities, including the hospice.

She is a patron of Marie Curie Cancer Care and a member of the Glasgow hospice development board.

She maintains her connection with the NAEA via the College of Fellows.