Ms Newton has been a volunteer committee member with the association since 2010. The association has grown during this time and she has been a constant member of the staffing sub-committee and has helped the Association navigate through the recruitment of most of the members of the current senior management team.

As well as serving on the full management committee, she was involved in the association’s audit and business sub-committee and was chair of the staffing sub-committee. She was also one of the founding members of the association’s events focus group, helping the association build an excellent record in customer engagement.

Ms Newton also contributed to the development of the association’s various tenant participation structures, and was instrumental in the Association’s Performance Improvement Network receiving two prestigious awards for tenant participation from TPAS Scotland.

Andrea Bell, the Association’s chairperson, said: “We are so sorry that Clare is leaving us. She has been a font of knowledge and her experience in the social housing sector has been invaluable to us. We respect her wishes to resign from the Association and although we will miss her, we wish her all the very best.”

Clive Douglas, chief executive, reinforced the chair’s recognition of Ms Newton’s contribution to the Association.

He said: “It won’t quite be the same without Clare. Her commitment to, and investment in, this organisation has been huge. The support and advice she has provided over the years has been invaluable to both the Association and to me personally. She’s a real one-off, an example to everyone in the movement and a nicer person you’ll never meet!”

Due to current coronavirus related restrictions, the Association has not been able to mark Ms Newton’s long service in the way they usually would like to in such circumstances at a face-to-face committee meeting, however, it will make arrangements for a small treat for Ms Newton.