Sue Spalton

Social worker: Born: June 23, 1937; Died: March 3, 2012. SUE Spalton, who has died aged 74, was a social worker and one of those women whom people call feisty. She knew her mind, spoke it with confidence and did not gladly tolerate those she regarded as fools. But she gave shrewd and compassionate help to all kinds of people going through difficult times – forging lifelong friendships with many of them. She was one of the great social workers of her generation.

The daughter of a Derbyshire corn merchant, she did well at the local girls’ grammar school and entered universities to read law, but soon switched to train as a probation officer.

Working first in Manchester, then Derbyshire, she moved to Scotland in 1966 to work in Ayrshire then Dunbartonshire. This was a time when social work training was developing quickly and she made a name for herself as a supervisor and teacher of young staff and university students.

University teachers setting up new courses – Kay Carmichael at Glasgow University was one of them – invited her to lecture to their students, greatly valued her help and became lifelong friends.

These were turbulent times in our universities, and there are still former radicals who warmly recall the respect with which she would listen to their challenges, and the robust responses she made to them. She enjoyed a good argument.

Moving to Aberdeen, she worked briefly as a lecturer in the university’s social work school before joining Grampian Region’s Social Work Service, where she became principal officer in charge of training.

She raised standards for all and made special efforts to bring the qualification offered to residential and group care staff up to the standard of that for individual field workers.

During the Piper Alpha disaster she played a leading part in supporting the team of frontline staff who were mobilised to help victims and their families.

Retiring in 1995, she settled in Lochgilphead where she trained to be a volunteer advocate in Scotland’s new advocacy service, set up to help people with mental illnesses and learning disabilities, and frail elderly people. For five years she served as the first convener of the board, directing one of the most successful of these agencies, and continued until her last years as a volunteer advocate – keeping her feet on the ground to the end. There is no better way of gaining a realistic picture of the underside of the welfare state than by acting as an advocate for the people who depend most heavily upon its services.

In December 2006 she and her long-term partner, Maureen, entered a civil partnership – a wonderful day for those of us privileged to be with them.

Sue Spalton is mourned by Maureen, her brother Edward and his children, Kirsty and Charles, and friends in many parts of Scotland.