Into the job with all guns blazing
Provost Lorraine just loved visiting fire engine rally
Alison Rennie
In her first three months as Provost of Renfrewshire, Lorraine Cameron has welcomed pipers from across Scotland, hosted a reception for Scouts from Denmark, and launched salmon fishing on the River Clyde.
But her favourite public event by far was taking part in the Johnstone Fire Engine Rally.
She said: “I’m a big kid at heart and I got to ring the bell and toot the horn of the fire engine. It was lots of fun and the kids had a great day.”
Lorraine, 54, was first elected for the SNP to Renfrewshire Council in 1999 to the Foxbar ward, a seat she held until the multi- member wards were introduced in 2007.
She loves being a councillor but admits becoming provost was never on her radar.
“Leading up to an election you talk informally but never once did I think I would do it. When it became clear we would be forming a minority administration, it all happened pretty fast,” she said.
“At our group meeting, members said they wanted to put me forward as provost. It frightened the life out of me.
“I was worried about the impact it would have on my family, but I spoke to them and they said I should go for it.”
She’s enjoying the job so far but didn’t expect it to be so busy.
She said: “I’m absolutely loving it. I’m a really sociable person, I’m at my happiest when I’m talking to folk. I love meeting people, especially the kind of people the provost gets to meet.
“I meet the people who are holding our communities together. Without all our volunteers, our communities wouldn’t work.”
Lorraine, who’s been married to Colin, 55, for 31 years, has four children – Lyndsay, 38, Ryan, 34, Nicole, 30 and Lisa, 29 and four grandchildren – Jack, six, Aiden, 12,Callum, 17 and Sam, 20.
While her kids were young, Lorraine got a part- time job working evenings in the Gleniffer Hotel and, in 1995, decided to go back to college to update her IT skills. That led to a degree in Business Management from Paisley University.
But before she could put her new-found knowledge to good use, she was asked to stand for the council in 1999, got elected – and hasn’t looked back since.
“I just love being that person that folk can come to when they’re struggling, when they don’t know where else to turn,” she said.
“We’re their voice. What I love more than anything else in the world is being able to help folk.”
In her 18 years as a councillor, Lorraine has helped many people but one man sticks in her mind.
She said: “It was the Christmas holidays and we’d had a heavy snowfall. A man phoned me to say the council had cleared the snow on his path but they’d left it in a big pile next to his car.
“His wife was disabled and he was worried she wouldn’t be able to get into the car. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get anyone at the council so I dragged my husband and my two youngest kids over there to shovel the snow.
“It was a good life lesson for my kids, who were 13 and 15. It helped them realise the kind of problems people face.”
Lorraine served as education convener during the SNP’s coalition term with the Lib Dems and admits it was a difficult job.
She said: “It was a toughie. We were just hitting the worst financial crisis anyone had seen in 2008 and there were difficult choices to be made.
“But I never shied away. Even if parents were unhappy I still went out to the public meetings.”
Lorraine is still deciding which local charities to support as provost.
“The hospices are a given but I want to choose one or two a year and I’m doing my homework first,” she said.
“I want to choose ones which will make the biggest impact and which are close to my heart.”
Lorraine is also very passionate about Paisley’s bid to become UK City of Culture 2021.
She said: “It’s exciting to be the provost during this time, and it’s exciting to be a Paisley citizen.
“People have much more faith in the council now to provide cultural and musical events. We’ve had a lot of success over the last few years. People are seeing a positive change.”
It’s exciting to be the Provost during this time, and it’s exciting to be a Paisley citizen