Janet “Nettie” Brown

Although I had met her on a few occasions, I did not know Nettie well. My aunt, Janet McCann, was a close friend and cousin of Nettie and used to be part of a bridge group that met regularly at Nettie’s house, right up until Nettie’s death. The third member of the group was the aunt of two  contemporaries from my schooldays in rural Perthshire. My sister tells me that she thinks the fourth member of the group was one of the very early Scottish Nationalist MPs. I’m not confident of the identity, so no names.

My reason for writing this article is to share with my family and friends the wonderful way that Nettie decided to dispose of her worldly possessions after her death.

After Nettie died, I remember my aunt telling me that Nettie had bequeathed her estate to Glasgow Corporation, for the benefit of the environment. I had visions of her family wealth rapidly disappearing into a big black hole, never to be seen again and probably with little discernable benefit.

But I have since discovered that she bequeathed her estate to create a memorial fund to her parents. The Brown Forbes Memorial Fund was endowed to support the beautification and restoration of the countryside and coastline of Scotland. 

What a beautiful idea. I am grateful to Alan Crombie a trustee of the Brown Forbes Memorial Fund for allowing me to share a link to the fund’s website so that you can see for yourselves how her estate is being put to good use for “the beautification and restoration of the countryside and coastline of Scotland”.