Deaconess and youth worker; Born December 15, 1912; Died April 29, 2007. ALICE Scrimgeour, the middle child of John and Jessie Scrimgeour, was born at Doune Lodge, where her father was factor on the Earl of Moray's estate. She always remained close to her elder brother William, her younger brother Charlie and their families.

Deaconess and youth worker; Born December 15, 1912; Died April 29, 2007.

ALICE Scrimgeour, the middle child of John and Jessie Scrimgeour, was born at Doune Lodge, where her father was factor on the Earl of Moray's estate. She always remained close to her elder brother William, her younger brother Charlie and their families.

Family mattered greatly to her; she also maintained a keen interest in the wider Scrimgeour clan, being a regular participant at the annual gathering at Crieff. Her early years were spent around Doune and Callendar, attending the local primary school and later MacLaren High.

She was a good pupil, but following the early death of her father she had to leave school to take her place at home in the hill farm, which Charlie worked after his father's death.

In 1935 she went to St Colm's College in Edinburgh to train as a Church of Scotland deaconess. Two years later she was pitched in at the deep end as a probationary deaconess in Gallowgate Parish Church in Glasgow's east end.

She moved with her mother to Dennistoun and to the tenement in Golfhill Drive that remained her home until her death. In addition to her work, she cared for her mother through her declining years.

It was quickly apparent to Alice that her life's work would be with children, young people and their families. In 1939 she was appointed to work with Sunday schools and she then became the organiser for senior youth in the Synod of Clydesdale for the Church of Scotland Youth Department.

When the Iona Community obtained Community House at 214 Clyde Street in 1943, she was involved there from the beginning. It housed her office and gave space for meeting rooms; in turn Alice was often to be found working at the youth camps on Iona, which also provided her with much inspiration and experience for her subsequent work.

For many years the pattern of Alice's work involved spending the winter months visiting youth fellowships, youth clubs and women's guilds. Summers were spent at Stroove, a community centre in Skelmorlie.

Alice took it over in the fallow summer months to run a wide variety of camps for children and young people. In the aftermath of the Second World War she instigated a regular series of Scots-German camps with church groups in the Black Forest and in the 1970s she was involved in bringing a considerable number of children from Northern Ireland to Stroove. Reconciliation was in her blood.

At Stroove she was warden, administrator, programme leader, book-keeper and cook. She was a skilled practitioner of informal education or education by stealth, with her best work often being done as she enlisted the help of children in the kitchen, or provided coffee, bacon rolls and wise and stimulating conversation for weary leaders well into the night.

She was still up first in the morning to put on the porridge pot. When Skelmorlie acquired a new community centre, she gathered a band of helpers, largely former campers, who worked to raise the money to buy and manage Stroove as a gift to the Church of Scotland. Her ability to get other people to work for her was formidable.

Retirement saw her continue her work with the Skelmorlie Foundation Group and also re-establishing her links with the church in the Gallowgate, now St Thomas's, where for many years she ran the Sunday school and acted as treasurer.

She continued to be active in the Deaconess Council, where she served as president for three years and greatly enjoyed the ecumenical contacts her role brought to her. She always wore her deaconess badge with pride. Her links with her wider family and with the Iona Community remained to the end of her life.

Alice was a strong woman, physically, mentally and spiritually. No-one ever saw her hurry, but her steady gait concealed great energy. She was a gifted communicator both in formal and informal settings, rich in insights into both the human condition and the texts of scripture.

In the Deaconess Council and through Stroove she developed a deep theology of the church as servant; she lived what she believed. She was strong, gentle and serene, and good fun with it. Her legacy lies in the countless number of young lives across the social spectrum who will remember Auntie Alice with respect and affection, and be the wiser and more aware through their encounter with her.