The funeral of Alison Balharry, the Dundee-born journalist, broadcaster and independence campaigner who died last month, has taken place.
She began her career with Radio Tay before becoming a BBC Radio Scotland producer on the Lesley Riddoch programme in the 1990s.
From there Alison, 61, went to work on Radio 4’s Today programme in London before moving to Doha to help set up Al Jazeera English.
She returned to Scotland to volunteer with Business for Scotland and the Yes campaign during the 2014 referendum.
Alison was said to have been devastated by the outcome of the vote but never gave up hope that independence would come.
Lesley Riddoch described her as feisty and tenacious and one of the best broadcasting producers she had ever worked with.
Alison was the daughter of Angus Balharry, who worked for hacklemakers William R Stewart in Dundee and his wife Heather, secretary at Forthill Primary School and grew up with one sister, Linda.
She was educated first at Forthill and when the family moved to Muirhead, she completed her secondary education at Dundee High School.,
Alison then moved on to Aberdeen University where she graduated in English before starting work as a journalist at Radio Tay in Dundee.
A fluent French speaker, Alison travelled widely in her younger years as well as in later life; she attended LiveAid in London in 1985, made many trips to the US and Australia and visited Gaza and other parts of the Middle East.
She joined BBC Radio Scotland in 1999 when the Lesley Riddoch programme was launched to coincide with the reconvening of the Scottish Parliament.
Move to London
In 2005, not long after Lesley Riddoch left the station, Alison joined the Today programme in London before eventually moving to Doha to join Al Jazeera.
She later settled in Glasgow and devoted her huge energy to the Scottish independence cause.
Ms Riddoch said: “Outspoken, feisty, Dundee women like Alison simply didn’t get into the BBC let alone its higher echelons. And if they did, their accent, tenacity, wild laugh, tousled hair, and favourite look – smock dresses over leggings – would have disappeared en route.
“That they didn’t, and that Alison progressed from Radio Scotland to network radio in London, and then to the truly tough gig of setting up Al Jazeera English in Doha, speaks volumes about her personality and sheer doggedness.
Referendum
“We met again when Alison worked for the Yes campaign during the Indyref – she was devastated and inconsolably angry after the result.
“That terrible burden was carried because Alison cared about doing the best professional job possible and about Scotland’s future.
“She was a truly beautiful, wild, questing, restless spirit and I will miss her.”
MSP Michelle Thomson said: “Alison was bright, astute, humble and ferociously honest.
“She watched people, noticing their little ways, what they hid and what they showed.”
Alison’s funeral took place on December 21. You can read the announcement here.
Conversation