Obituary - Ailsa Craig Stirling, teacher. An appreciation

Died: December 26, 2016

AILSA Craig Stirling, who has died aged 89, was an iconic teacher, a very private person but at the same time the beating heart of every social occasion which she attended. After putting her stamp on young pupils in Glasgow, Aberdeenshire and East Lothian, she became a specialist in single-teacher rural schools, firstly at Brae School near Stonehaven and then at Croftamie Primary School, near Drymen where she was headmistress from 1967 until her retiral in 1989.

When an international group called Interskola was set up to look at the special challenges of education in sparsely populated areas, Ailsa became a dedicated participant, attending every year from its inaugural meeting in Aberdeenshire in 1969 until her final attendance in Poland in 2009.

Over the years she entered into all the discussions with her trademark enthusiastic and positive approach. She spoke often at conference about ways of learning which required not only a broad brush approach but also particular gifts to cope with young pupils from 5-12 years. I saw this first hand on visiting Croftamie Primary School where pupils worked in small groups and older pupils had special responsibilities for the youngest pupils and for daily tasks in the classroom. Ailsa was justifiably proud of surviving the cuts of the late 70s and 80s when an alleged new broom approach saw the closure of many smaller schools.

Ailsa was born in Glasgow in 1927, to Robert and Janet Mossman. During a comfortable childhood she attended Hutchesons' Grammar in Glasgow and, during wartime evacuation, Marr College in Troon. After qualifying from Jordanhill College in 1947, her first teaching positions were in primary schools in the east end of Glasgow.

In one of Glasgow’s many popular dance halls, she met William Stirling, then a paint manufacturer’s sales representative (later to change career to become an economics teacher). Both accomplished dancers, the relationship blossomed and they married in 1951, moving to Aberdeenshire where their first daughter, Jill, was born, followed by second daughter, Lesley, when the family lived in East Lothian. Sadly Bill died in 1976.

In middle age, Ailsa took up skiing (both downhill and cross country - preferring the latter) and joined Bearsden Ski Club where she immersed herself completely in the club and its activities both on and off the piste. This took in, amongst other things, speaking at the annual Burns Supper – Ailsa was a well-known and popular Burns speaker throughout central Scotland – curling, country dancing and ski instruction, free gratis, to enthusiasts of all ages on the artificial slope. She was a long serving editor of the ski club’s magazine and woe betide anyone who submitted copy with split infinitives, apostrophes in the wrong place or just down right bad grammar.

In the days before inexpensive air fares, Bearsden Ski Club ran buses to alpine resorts and, if Ailsa was the bus convener, families could be sure of being well looked after and entertained on the 24 to 30-hour journey across Europe.

After retiring aged 62, Ailsa gave in to her wanderlust and travelled to all corners of the world from the Artic to the Antarctic, enjoying trips to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Nepal and the Himalayas, China, Australia, Thailand and back packing to European youth hostels.

Some of Ailsa’s other interests included the Croftamie Claivers, the local magazine of which she was editor, chief reporter and photographer, winning Stirlingshire’s Rural Communities Newspaper Award in 2008. She was a keen and active member of Strathendrick Agricultural Society Drymen Show, a public speaker of some note and enjoyed golf, curling, table tennis, tai chi, painting and embroidery. She could always be counted on to help those in need in the area and was a familiar figure collecting for charities – most famously for organising the area’s annual collection for Poppy Scotland.

To Ailsa, family was everything. The closeness of Ailsa, Jill and husband Bill and daughter Frances, Lesley and late husband Brian, was a joy to behold. Sadly Jill died in 2014 of cancer. With Ailsa’s support and the generosity of others, her granddaughter, Frances, raised more than £27,000 which was delivered to Southampton University for Cancer Research UK’s pioneering work into bile duct cancer.

In her last few years, Ailsa’s health deteriorated with failing eyesight and hearing, loss of independence and increasing frailty. Becoming less mobile and virtually blind, her final months were spent being well cared for at Balquhidder House Care Home in Alexandria.

Ailsa lived an exemplary life and regularly attended Gartocharn Parish Church and Kilmarnock Parish Church where a large crowd gathered on January 6, 2017. Mourners included former pupils, friends from Scotland, Wales, Czech Republic and Sweden as well as more local friends and family. All gathered to say au revoir to one of a kind, to a remarkable lady whose wonderful life, wit and wisdom had touched them all.

JOHN M WATSON