ARTISTS and writers were among the mourners who paid tribute to Morag McAlpine, the wife of Alasdair Gray, after her death at the age of 64.

Her private funeral took place yesterday at Cardross Cemetery in Dunbartonshire. This followed a brief service conducted by her husband in a funeral parlour near their home in Glasgow.

Among the mourners were Irish author Bernard McLaverty and his wife, Madeline, as well as Nichol Wheatley, who worked recently with Gray on a huge mural at Hillhead underground station.In the short eulogy, Gray said they had got together almost 25 years ago and they were ideally matched. His parting words were a reading of the WB Yeats poem, The Fascination of What's Difficult.