The Revd Dr Alison V Fuller: 1945-2022 

A determined woman, often referred to as a trailblazer 

Alison was born in Stockport, Cheshire on 23 June 1945, elder daughter of Rupert and Catherine (Rena) Jones.

After attending Fylde Lodge High School for Girls in Stockport, she went on to study Botany at Edinburgh University and then Durham University to undertake her PhD, where she spent many weeks, if not months on her hands and knees studying a very small area of ground in Upper Teesdale. This was an area which was considered to be of outstanding natural history but which was to be flooded after the construction of a reservoir at Cow Green.

She attained her PhD and the title of her thesis was: “A Phytosociological Study of Widdybank Fell in Upper Teesdale”.

It was whilst she was at Durham that she first worshipped at a Baptist church, having previously been a member of the Presbyterian Church, and from there she went on to Regent's Park College in Oxford to train as a Baptist minister. She was ordained and inducted into Magor Baptist Church, Gwent, South Wales in 1975.

There she  met and married her husband, Francis they shared their love of walking and holidaying to various continents.

She was the minister at: 
Magor Baptist Church, South Wales, 1975 – 1979
St Andrews Baptist Church, Bletchley, 1979 – 1996
Westgate Baptist Church, Bradford, 1996 – 2008
 
She has been referred as a “trailblazer” as she was the first lady minister at Magor and indeed the first lady in the Gwent English Baptist Association, and she sat on and chaired many committee meetings.

Unfortunately, she had to take early retirement due to having Parkinson’s disease and moved to Edinburgh in 2008 where her sister and brother-in-law had found a flat for her and Francis, just by Boroughmuir Rugby Club. 

At the beginning, her illness did not hold her back, she became a Friend of the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, a member of the National Trust and a member of the General Council of Edinburgh University.  She joined Canonmills Baptist Church worshipping regularly and took part in as many events as she was able.  She also joined the Parkinson’s Society and particularly enjoyed the swimming and Singing Clubs.

Eventually, after her husband passed away, she was not able to look after herself and spent the last four years or so being cared for extremely well by the staff of a Care Home. Here again, she was a “trailblazer” as she was the first lady to enter the home with Parkinson’s.

Latterly, however, the illness overtook her and she became very frail and a passed away peacefully on 26 August 2022.

If there is one comment above all that has been spoken about by those who knew Alison, it is that “she was a determined woman.”
 

K Hilary Anderson