"It is so odd with very old friends - they are part of your mental household, even if you are not in touch very often, and of course they remain so even after they have died. Whenever we were in touch there was just that simple unaffected sense of continuity. We knew who we were to one another. We found ourselves in the same class at school, and we were both studying classics. We found ways of beating the system by playing on opposite sides in compulsory games of netball - with her as "shooter" and me as "goalkeeper" for the other team, we could manipulate the results more or less as we liked and with minimal effort. I also remember a cross country run when we sallied out of the school gate, straight to the chippie for a sausage roll! I loved her wit, her sense of humour and her lack of pretension. She was a great puncturer of human pomposity. I think it was hard for her sometimes to be the eldest of four, and such different, siblings. Her sensitivity to different "voices" made her a brilliant parody-ist of course, but I know how we spent hours taking the mickey out of everyone and everything" - The Revd Angela Tilby, friend 

"Alison was such a precious soul. It was always a joy to spend time with her at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, and we had a lot of fun attending Christopher Titmus's course in Brighton. She had such a keen mind and kind heart, and inspired us all with her stoic perseverance in the face of her physical limitations" - Chris Blain, friend 

"I will remember her lively wit and wisdom, her story-telling, and her courage. I am grateful to her for helping me to imagine and think about what it is like to "walk in another's shoes" " - Gillian Limb, friend 

"Alison's unfailing cheerfulness was a real inspiration. Her great enthusiasm for music, among many other things, and her regular words of encouragement meant a great deal to me and many others at Music in Peebles. She will be missed, and remembered with great affection by us all" - John Fox, Music in Peebles, friend