SUE Ritchie seems to have packed more into her 50-plus years than most people fit into a lifetime.
Among the many facets of her life have been a career in the health service, her ongoing role as an outdoor enthusiast as well as her business interests.
They have all helped to mould Sue's outgoing personality - a personality which many in the rural area in Garstang and other parts of the North of England have come to respect and admire.
Her recent elevation to the presidency of Garstang Chamber of Trade is just one role for which she becoming increasingly known - others include her active involvement in Garstang's efforts to win the 2008 Entente Florale Europe.
But being busy is nothing new for this dynamo of activity whose unpretentious approach to public life is likely to continue for many years yet.
Sue was born in Kent, the first of six children. At school she was keen on maths and geography, and hoped for a geography-related career.
But instead she went into nursing, ending up as ward manager on the paediatric unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
Her early years in nursing saw her training at Winchester Hospital, Hampshire, before going on to a course in midwifery at Pembury Hospital, Kent.
Enjoying her work with children, she went on to work with poorly kids at Bristol hospital before becoming a staff nurse at Framley Park Hospital, close to the Sandhurst military academy.
The move to Blackpool came in 1980 when she was appointed a junior ward sister at 'the Vic' - later receiving various promotions, and taking a degree in combined physiology and pharmacology.
But in 1995, like many in the demanding health service she was unhappy with the regular changes and red tape associated with the NHS and was, as she puts it, "stressed out" and decided it was time for a change.
She had always been a lover of the countryside, and during her time at Victoria Hospital had got to know the wonderful rural areas of Wyre and Fylde, enrolling as a voluntary countryside ranger with Wyre Council.
Even though she was to move to various jobs in the north of England over the next few years she was still within commuting distance of Wyre and returned regularly to help her ranger colleagues with their voluntary work in the countryside between the Bowland Fells and Fleetwood.
That work involves everything from pathlaying and litter picking to erecting signposts and leading country walks.
In the mid-1990s she decided to move into professional gardening, moving from Blackpool to a cottage near Clapham, North Yorkshire, and taking a course in amenity horticulture at Myerscough College.
Explaining the career move Sue said: "For me it was a natural progression. It was a way to be outdoors. I love being outdoors with the rangers and I love being outdoors gardening."
Other moves followed - to Coniston in the Lake District, where she worked at Grasmere Garden Centre for six months in the plant department, and then to Cartmel where she worked on an organic farm at Howbarrow for two years.
During all these moves she was regularly back in Wyre with her countryside ranger chums, and visiting friends in the Fylde.
She particularly recalls the pleasure, in 2001, of going on a country walk over Nicky Nook in the immediate aftermath of the relaxing of the country walking restrictions after the ending of the foot and mouth scare.
"It was the first time we had been allowed off the roads. No-one had walked there for six months. The bracken was so high. It was a privilege to be there - and to know where the footpath was."
She moved permanently back to this area about six years ago, initially living in Preston, establishing a gardening business, while at the same time working part-time as a freelance First Aid tutor and doing a part-time sales job with Marks and Spencer, working out of their Preston and Kendal stores.
Home these days is an attractive rented cottage in the former Reformatory building on the Bleasdale estate, living with her friendly pets, dog Fern and cat, Bee.
Her cottage is a building well known to walkers and ramblers, who pass by on the public right of way (part of the Bleasdale circular) in front of it.
Sue loves both the cottage and its location - she can see the Bleasdale Fells through her window and knows that (on clear days), when she climbs the fells she can see Ingleborough, Pendle, the Lake District, the Isle of Man and the Welsh hills.
And - with a touch of understandable pride - she can say she knows some of those other hills as well as she knows Bowlands fells and Wyre's lowlands.
As well as her gardening business, where her clients these days are mainly in the Garstang and Lancaster area, she continues her First Aid teaching and another venture - a network marketing business which helps householders and businesses streamline and make savings on their utility bills.
Sue's business interests brought her into contact with Garstang Chamber of Trade.
She is one of many members not based in and around Garstang town centre, a point she is keen to make in attracting other businesses which are close to, though not actually in Garstang, to consider.
She said: "There are a number of members who do not have shop front premises."
She sees her role as the new president of the Chamber of Trade as promoting the organisation and its work for businesses in greater Garstang.
Another role she has landed is with Garstang's Britain in Bloom/ Entente Florale committee for whom she is organising the schools liaison for the 2008 Entente Florale entry.
Sue is a well known face at many schools in the rural Wyre area, where she runs gardening clubs. The schools liaison role with the EF is an extension of that role, with 12 schools taking part in the EF contest its is another demanding task.
With a busy life she finds little time for hobbies, but manages to squeeze in country walking, reading and what she calls "simple pleasures."
She also manages to fit in time for a committee role with the Lancashire and Westmoreland Hedge Laying Association!
She is clearly not a person to duck a challenge. When given the opportunity to raise funds for SCOPE, the charity for people with cerebral palsy, two years ago, she readily accepted - and found herself trekking up Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, raising £6,000 for the charity.
She didn't quite make it to the top, something which miffs her - and makes her want to try another big challenge in the not too distant future. She isn't sure yet what it will be, but knowing Sue, she will put 110 per cent effort into it as she does with all her endeavours.