Early Life
Nora was born in Liverpool on the 17th May 1955 to Scottish parents. Nora had 3 brothers; Ian the eldest is deceased, her middle brother Hugh lives in Glasgow, and her younger brother Colin lives in Portugal. The whole family were keen rugby supporters and her father and Colin both played rugby for Scotland at international level
Education
Norah attended primary and secondary schools in Liverpool before studying English at Leeds University where she met people from all corners of the globe, some of whom she is still in touch with.
Careers
She then joined Coventry city council as a trainee and spent some time in various departments such as Chief Executives, education and social services where she first met Chris in 1976 as a work colleague.
Nora then moved on to become a registrar in the local comprehensive school, an admin officer in social services, an assistant director in leisure services and deputy director of social services where she helped to set up the social services department in Leicestershire. She ended up as the acting director of Coventry social services in control of a budget of millions of pounds where the press referred to her as “The redoubtable Nora Fisher!”
Marriage and Family
Nora and Chris met up again in 1988 (this time romantically) married in 1999 and she became a step mum to Alexander and Emma and is now a step grandma of 5 grandchildren who have all recently visited from England now that the covid restrictions have eased.
Moving to Scotland
In 2003 Nora and Chris moved to Kilmacolm where Nora was recruited by both Renfrewshire and Inverclyde social work departments. She dealt with serious case reviews and was also the chair of Renfrewshire child protection committee and a lay judge with Glasgow employment tribunals. She volunteered at Erskine Hospital, and was a director of both shop mobility and home start.
Hobbies and Outside Interests
From 1988 to 1991 Nora attended a woman's management development course at Aston University and still keeps in touch with some of the other attendees who were collectively known as “The Astonians”.
In Coventry Nora became a founder member of the woman's pudding group who met bi-monthly to eat puddings! She is still in contact with some members 25 years later.
When Nora and Chris first moved to Scotland they bought a boat which they loved to sail from their berth in Largs to Ireland, the Hebrides and family holiday home in the village of Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Their sailing ranged from the Isle of Man to the Isle of Skye as well as the islands and coastline of Scotland. While on the boat they took 2 hour watches and Nora would not relax but spent her time reading, playing sudoku and solving crosswords.
When not sailing they travelled round Scotland on their Harley Davidson motorcycle though Nora’s favourite holidays were often city breaks in Europe.
As Nora's condition worsened they had to find a more suitable home which they found in Kilbarchan, however it was very run down and required a lot of initial work and conversion.
Nora always had a strong need to link to cultural activities and would enrol with Chris in literature, painting, and music courses as well as enjoying membership of the local photography club.
Favourites:
• Meal used to be steak and now like Winnie the Pooh it is honey sandwiches
• Drink is vodka
• Book is The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
• Movie is The L Shaped Room
• TV show is the BBCs 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice
• Music is classical and her favourite piece is Farewell to Stromness by Peter Maxwell Davies
Tell the audience something about yourself that would surprise people
• “I'm a hooker” please remember the rugby connection!
• Also Nora is a ‘Trekkie’ and loves everything about Star Trek the Next Generation
