Obituary: Anne Cotterill, flower artist, 76

Anne Cotterill, one of the most well-known flower artists of her generation, has died aged 76.

Born in October 1933, at Pressen Hill Farm, near Kelso in Roxburghshire, Mrs Cotterill went to Esdaile School for Girls in Edinburgh before attending Edinburgh College of Art.

Such was her talent, she was awarded a post-graduate travelling scholarship by the college, spending two years studying in Europe and training in Paris. The rest of her life she lived in Somerset with her husband John. She is survived by her husband, their children Catherine, Daniel and Laura and six grandchildren.

Tributes have been paid to a highly regarded teacher, poet and fisherman who died last month, aged just 57.

John Fairley read politics at Edinburgh University as a student in the 1970s before returning to the Capital a decade on to work at the city council's planning department and later as professor of planning at Napier University.

Born with serious asthma in Kirkintilloch in the 1950s, Mr Fairley excelled at both Lenzie Primary and Lenzie Academy before winning a place at Edinburgh University. He then moved to London to lecture at what is now the London Metropolitan University before later taking up a role at the Greater London Council, where he worked to promote the importance of high-quality skills training and apprenticeships.

In 1986, he returned to his native Scotland and was the founding member of the Women's Training Centre.

In the early 1990s, he moved to Aberdeen to take up Grampian Public Policy Chair at the Robert Gordon University. Later he became a professor in public policy/ management at Strathclyde University and his final academic appointment was at Napier University, where he worked until ill-health forced his retirement in 2008. Mr Fairley continued to teach politics at Stevenson College part-time until he died.

He was also a gifted poet whose work has only come to light after his death.

He is survived by his daughter Jean, mother Frances and brother Archie.