Liddy Davidson is standing down after ten years as the head of Age Concern Wiltshire.

Mrs Davidson, 54, is moving to the south coast now that her husband Ian has retired after 37 years in the Army to embark on a new career as a boatbuilder.

She is also seeking a change of direction after a career that has seen her as an oil dealer, an NHS health promoter and a volunteer organiser for the Stroke Association.

After taking a geography degree and teaching diploma, she found herself working for Shell International, selling crude oil and advising colleagues on the cost of hiring tankers.

She said: “It was a fantastic five years. But then I left to have my girls. Susy is now 28 and a physiotherapist and Kim is 26 and now training to teach food technology.”

While Mr Davidson was posted to Aldershot, Mrs Davidson organised a babysitting circle at the camp, which led to her setting up a Hive scheme for Army wives, similar to an organisation set up in Germany.

She negotiated grant aid from the Soldiers Sailors and Airmen’s Association and premises from the Army. She was headhunted to institute a chain of 35 similar centres throughout Germany in the next two years.

When her husband was posted to North Yorkshire, Mrs Davidson went into health promotion, working for the NHS for a total of eight years, in Yorkshire, Surrey and Norfolk. Her abiding memory of that period was riding an elephant in a circus parade as part of a promotion on responsible drinking. She said: “We had 18 moves in 33 years of marriage but then Ian had four jobs in a row which allowed us to stay in Wiltshire.”

She spent ten years as director of Age Concern Wiltshire, building a power to be reckoned with out of the moribund organisation. The complement of five staff expanded to nearly 50, most of them part time, helped by over 200 volunteers.

She says her most satisfying achievement was the survey, Beyond The Immediate, which led to a template for the care for the elderly for the next few decades.

She said: “I was so fortunate in having the chance to develop an organisation almost from a standing start. I am going to miss it so much but it is a good time to go.”

Mrs Davidson handed over to new chief executive, Brian Deeley, at an extraordinary general meeting yesterday.