1 FOR more than 70 years, Alice Scrimgeour served the young people of Glasgow with grace and compassion. As a probationary deaconess with the Church of Scotland at Gallowgate Parish Church in the east end, she was greatly admired by both Protestant and Catholic communities. She established youth camps and ran Stroove House in Skelmorlie after the Second World War, bringing German and Scottish teenagers together. In the 1970s she brought children from Northern Ireland to Stroove, again, in the spirit of reconciliation.

Glasgow Times: Stroove House in 1982

2 Born in 1912 in Doune, Alice moved to Dennistoun in the 30s, working with Sunday schools. When the Iona Community obtained Community House on Clyde Street in 1943, she was a driving force.

3 Stroove became a haven for families from poor areas of Glasgow who could not afford a holiday. In an article in The Herald just after she died, the report noted: “In that kitchen, people who were often emotionally damaged found themselves affirmed as Alice listened patiently to their tear-stained stories. Her pancakes were famous.”

4 In 1976, Alice was named Evening Times Scotswoman of the Year and she was taken to the dinner in the City Chambers in a clapped-out mini. She received the rosebowl from singer Frankie Vaughan. In the year that followed, when speaking to youth fellowships and woman’s guilds, she was often mis-introduced as ‘Miss Scotland’ or ‘Sportswoman of the Year’. When she was invited back to SWOTY, the Gallowgate congregation determined she should go in style this time, in a chauffeur-driven limousine, so they hired the local undertaker to do the honours.

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5 Even after retiring, Alice continued working and ran the Sunday school at the Gallowgate church - now St Thomas’s. She was president of the Deaconess Council for three years. Alice died in April, 2007.