On Monday 9th December the Rose Club lounge
was officially re-designated as the Alister Roy
Lounge as a mark of respect and dedication to a
man who gave countless hours of his time to
Linlithgow Rose. We asked club president Les
Donaldson to reflect on his friend’s contribution.
“Alister was a Rose man to the core. He was an
optimist – always thought the Rose would win and
it didn’t matter who the opposition were. When
some of us maybe pursed our lips and dared to
doubt, Alister would be there to put us right. Not
that he was always right of course – but he always
believed in the boys in maroon who took to the pitch
and I know how much they respected him for that.
When he passed away we wanted to do something
that reflected his contribution and we had a few
discussions with the Roy family before settling on re-naming the club lounge. Alister did a power of work inside the
club as well as on the pitch so it seemed the right thing to do and we had a lovely evening with family and friends on
the 9th of December.
When someone who has been around the club for a long time passes on there is always talk of replacing them, ensuring someone else takes over or takes up the slack. That’s not easy when you talk about replacing Alister in terms
of the roles he had at the club. It’s impossible when you talk about the man as a friend and as a character. Big Al was
a great friend to the Rose and we miss him about the place every day. When I look back at his “working week” it’s no
surprise that we miss him:
Monday – Inspect and repair the pitch during the day and then attend the committee meeting at night
Tuesday – Help out at the bingo
Wednesday – Run through all the wee jobs that build up over a week
Thursday – Sell the Treasure Chest
Friday – Prepare and line the pitch then help out in