Woman suffers fatal injury in horse fall horror

Experienced horsewoman dies in riding accident near her home

A Mearns community stalwart and former environmental campaigner has died after falling from her horse and suffering a head injury.

Christina Sullivan, 73, was on the horse at stables near her home in Rickarton, by Stonehaven, when the tragic accident happened last week.

Despite paramedics’ best efforts, the experienced horsewoman died before she got to hospital.

Husband Mike, a former Lib Dem councillor, said that the mother-of-one would be missed “enormously”.

Mr Sullivan, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, said: “She was loved by everyone.

“She was very interested in the local community and spent a lot of time working with the community council.

“She was a very politically-motivated person you could say and very keen on CND. We went to demonstrations many times. She was just an altogether interested activist.

“As well as this she loved animals, was a philanthropist and had four grandchildren in Denmark who she loved spending time with.

“She was a very fine character and I will miss her enormously.”

Born in Denmark, Mrs Sullivan had a son, Peter, from an earlier marriage.

She was part of the famous Greenham Common peace camp in the early 1980s.

The all-female demonstrators hit headlines after pitching up outside an RAF base in Berkshire to protest cruise missiles being stationed at the site.

She met her second husband, who had served in the Royal Navy, in Malta in 1981.

They were married in 1988 in Oxfordshire by which point Mr Sullivan was working as a commercial airline pilot. That job would later take him to the north-east.

Mrs Sullivan lectured at Aberdeen University where she taught English to foreign students, retiring about a decade ago.

Latterly, she cared for her husband following his diagnosis.

Mrs Sullivan was an engaged member of the community council and played a key role in the recent twinning project with the French town Acheres.

She also played a big part in organising the New Year’s Day Nippy Dip.

Phil Mills Bishop, who is the current head of the twinning group, said: “She was always so helpful and extremely supportive – one of those great community-minded people who didn’t ever want any recognition for her actions.

“I just saw her at the weekend and she had been hosting one of the French delegates from Acheres. We will all miss her terribly.”

‘I will miss her enormously’: Christina was a beloved wife, mother and grandmother, and an active member of her local community.