Sheila McKechnie was born in
Camelon,
Falkirk, on 3 May 1948 to Hugh McKechnie, then a commercial traveller, and Christina (
née Marshall). She studied politics and history at the
University of Edinburgh, where she was a friend of
Gordon Brown. She was a member of the
students' representative council, holding the posts of Secretary and 2nd Junior President. After graduating, she studied for an MA in
Industrial Relations at the
University of Warwick. After working as a trade union official in the 1970s, during which she was active in the
women's movement, she became director of the housing and homelessness charity
Shelter in 1985. After ten years in this post, she left to become head of the
Consumers' Association, campaigning on a wide range of issues, often using headline-grabbing stunts. In 2001 McKechnie said: "I am a fully paid-up member of the
awkward squad and will remain so for the rest of my life. No government would ever feel entirely comfortable with me or the association because we are both fiercely, fiercely independent." She was on the Board of Trustees of
The Architecture Foundation. McKechnie was diagnosed with cancer in 1997. Following her death in 2004, aged 55, the
Sheila McKechnie Foundation was established to support a new generation of campaigners. In 2006, a bronze bust of McKechnie was erected in the
walled garden within Dollar Park in Falkirk, near her birthplace of Camelon. The bust was created by artist Suzanne Robinson. ==References==