How Stonehaven hero Barbara Maclean has raised over £1m for charity

Press and Journal

16-05-2025

A visit to a Spring Harvest Festival in Ayr turned out to be life-changing for Stonehaven local hero, Barbara Maclean.
She would never have imagined that day would see her on the road to opening a charity shop in Stonehaven which 30 years later, would have donated more than £1million to projects worldwide.
Barbara is originally from Greenock but she and her husband Alistair settled in Stonehaven in 1981.
For several years, Barbara was busy bringing up her two sons, Scott now 44, and Sandy, now 42.
Her moment at the festival in Ayr came in 1992, when Barbara, a devout Christian, heard a speaker calling people to mission.
This prompted her to seek spiritual guidance on how to support missionaries, but the direction she would take didn't fall into place at once.
It was bubbling in her mind though on a holiday weekend with the boys in the North Yorkshire town of Yarm.
Barbara said: 'I noticed how many charity shops there were, for various causes.
'I felt a prompting from God who said, what if there was a charity shop for mission?
'Next thing I was in the charity shop looking at the prices with interest.
'And I'd always hated charity shops!'
She mentioned her thought to her husband Alistair, returned to Stonehaven and promptly forgot about it.
But Alistair didn't forget.
He nudged and nudged Barbara until she shyly mentioned the idea to their minister Graham Finch at Stonehaven Fetteresso Church.
After much discussion and debate, a committee was formed to move the idea forward.
In 1993, the Far & Wide charity shop opened in its first location in Stonehaven.
'People thought it would only last a year,' Barbara said. 'I thought once people had emptied their attics that would be it. But the stuff kept coming.'
Five years later the shop had outgrown its original location and moved into its current location on the corner of Church Street.
As the money for good causes rolled in, Barbara found churches of other denominations asking for money.
'Volunteers signed up from the Baptist church, the Catholic church and the Episcopal church — people who had a real passion for this work.
'That's how the Fetteresso Charity committee was formed.'
Today, 40 volunteers work on rotation to keep the shop running.
They transport and sort donations, return items to the shop, manage displays, work the till and steam the clothes.
Barbara said: 'Some of the ladies have been involved for more than twenty years.
'It's hard work, quite physical.'
Barbara now has a paid role to carry out for 20 hours of vital admin for the charity, but in practice, she puts in many more hours for the shop, its food bank and its community cafe.
She's even witnessed modern day miracles in the shop, as items have been donated that exactly suit the requirements of needy families.
She recalls: 'One day, a social worker called with a request.
'A family she had been working with was about to move into a new — and completely empty — flat.
'The social worker said that the family could use a three-piece suite in brown leather.'
Barbara knew that the shop mostly dealt with clothing, books, and other small items.
'I thought, that's specific but, well, you never know.'
Moments later a van from partner organisation Blythswood Care arrived, and the back doors opened to reveal —a three piece brown leather suite.
The social worker also mentioned the same family needed a carpet, and the van returned with —a roll of carpet.
Barbara said: 'When they arrived at the flat, the family asked if they could help fit the carpet, something they'd never done.
'It turned out the carpet was a perfect fit for the living room.
'Sometimes you just have to say it out loud, and then you never know.'
The money raised by Far & Wide now supports many projects worldwide.
After the war in Bosnia, the charity provided funds to help refugees move out of railway carriages and build their own houses.
Soon after, additional funds were sent to purchase a polytunnel for growing vegetables to support the village.
Far & Wide also played a key role in establishing a bakery and a sewing machine workshop.
The charity shop has contributed to the construction of a new clinic in Rwanda, purchased tools for a fish farm in Cameroon, funded cleft palate operations on the Mercy Hospital Ship, and provided resources for eye operations for refugees along the Burmese border.
It has supported feeding programmes for orphans in Africa and for teenagers living on the streets in Siberia, where temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees.
They've funded solar panels in Africa, smoke hoods in Nepal and helped send and pack a 20ft container of aid to Lake Victoria.
These are just a few examples of the work of Far & Wide, making Barbara not just a local hero, but an international one too.
But for Barbara, it's all about the volunteers.
A fellow member of Stonehaven Fetteresso church said: 'She helps everyone and is so humble.
'The volunteers are great it's true, but Barbara is amazing, a true Stonehaven hero.'
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