Alison Margaret Mackintosh of Fife, who held senior rank in the RAF and was a Scotland hockey international, has died aged 92.
She rose to become a Group Captain, one of few women in the upper echelons of the service, and in her sporting career represented Scotland at home and on tours of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Alison saw service overseas and had a spell working at the Secret Bunker near Anstruther. In 2003, she was made an MBE and was presented with her award at Buckingham Palace.
Alison was born at Chesterhill, Anstruther, where her father was a solicitor.
Education
She attended St Katherine’s School in St Andrews and then went to the Mount School in York.
The Mount School had a strong ethos of practical helpfulness towards others and this influenced Alison’s approach to life.
At school, she met her lifelong friends, Dot and Rosemary, and all three enrolled at St Andrews University. Alison’s chosen subject was science and on completing her studies she joined the Royal Air Force.
Alison was highly driven and determined and had an extremely successful career in the service.
Pioneer
Her area of work was engineering and she was the only woman in a team of more than 1,000 men, and, as such, was quite a pioneer.
She had periods of service overseas in Aden, Malta and Germany before her brief spell at the Anstruther bunker
In the later part of her career, Alison worked at the Ministry of Defence before taking early retirement in the mid 1980s.
Sport had played a big part in her life. Apart from her hockey career, Alison played tennis for the RAF.
In retirement, she was a founding member of Fife Croquet Club in 2007 and enjoyed playing at Hill of Tarvit.
Return to Fife
When she retired, Alison moved back to Fife and bought a piece of land in Bridgend in Ceres where, with the help of her younger brother Sandy and his wife Doreen, she had a bungalow built.
While no longer working, Alison kept busy. She was a volunteer for the RAF Benevolent Fund. In this role she met with individuals in Fife who had been in the RAF and who were in need of financial support.
She also served as a trustee on the board of Alastrean House in Tarland in Aberdeenshire. Alastrean was owned by the RAF Benevolent Fund initially as a holiday home for service people and latterly as a care home.
Alison also worked as a volunteer at Fife Folk Museum with her good friend Rachel Peterkin and also served as honorary secretary of Fife Preservation Society.
Honoured
Her work in the RAF Benevolent Fund was recognised by the award of an MBE in 2003 and Alison travelled to London with her niece Gillian and her friend Dot for the investiture.
Alison also loved to travel and in retirement enjoyed many trips away both in the UK and overseas with her friends. In 2000, she and her friend Rosemary had a particularly enjoyable and exciting trip to the Galapagos Islands to celebrate the Millennium.
She also enjoyed visiting places more locally and was a life member of the National Trust for Scotland.
An avid gardener, she spent much time carefully tending her Ceres garden and as her health deteriorated continued to enjoy walks round the garden with her carers.
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