TRIBUTES have poured in for a Dunfermline community activist who dedicated her life trying to improve the lives of others.

Marie Macrae passed away on Thursday November 15, just a couple a weeks after her 70th birthday, following a short battle with cancer.

An active member of the Labour Party and Unison, she worked closely with some of the UK’s top politicians including former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Daughter Carol Cullen said: “She is well known for her work in the community, politics and love of folk music. She seemed to have her fingers in a lot of pies!

“As a family we are incredibly proud of her and the difference she made not just for her community but for Scotland. She had friends everywhere.”

She added: “We’re all in shock. She had a very short but brave battle with cancer. She celebrated her 70th birthday on October 22 and was fine. My sister Siobhan took her to Milan and we had a party when she came back.

“We went to a Christy Moore gig and she never stopped singing the whole way through. The next day she wasn’t feeling well. She went into hospital and that was it, she never came back out.”

Before she retired Marie worked as a policy officer for Fife Council and spent a lot of time looking at the issue of fuel poverty and schemes for people that needed support.

In recent years she was secretary for the Dunfermline Labour branch and national secretary for retired members for Unison in Scotland.

Close friend, Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Alex Rowley, said: “She was such an amazing woman.

"Marie was instrumental in driving the Labour Party in Fife and Unison, but above all she was someone who just cared about people. She has personally been there for me through the good and bad and she will be sorely missed by a lot of people, not just in Fife but across Scotland.

“I know Gordon Brown is very upset by the news and he has written to her family as well as Jeremy Corbyn.

“She was a fantastic baker too! When Jeremy came to West Fife last year she made sure he had a cup of tea and cake everywhere he went!

“Improving people’s lives was what drove her all her life.”