This is an excerpt from the eulogy read by OMK James Vaughan (1979-1983) who was best man for Alison and her husband, Simon, on their wedding day:

Ali was born in Manchester on 3 September 1964, the younger sister of Rachael and Daphne. Her father was a theoretical astro-nuclear physicist and her mother an artist and teacher. She was educated at Withington Girls School in Manchester until her O-levels, before switching to Kelly College in Tavistock for the Sixth Form, which was the beginning of her love story with Devon.

Her teachers at Kelly College, however, were less than impressed with Ali’s academic ability. She appears to have had ‘a weak memory for facts’. Bizarrely, this is the same woman who went on to have a high-flying legal career in London!

Simon also fondly recalls that Ali never forgot anything if she wanted to win a “discussion” with him – in inverted commas ...

From Kelly she went on to Cardiff to study Law, followed by Guildford Law School. Then she wangled an interview at Freshfields by cleverly sending in an application on the very morning she knew one of her friends would be turning down a place and was duly successful.

This proactive approach led to her being similarly optimistic on her children’s behalf in later life. Serena, for example, remembers Ali threatening to stand outside Christie’s and Sotheby’s with a banner proclaiming Serena’s academic achievements after she had been rejected from the auction houses for an Internship, for the third time.

While Serena hoped it was an empty threat, she knew her mother well enough to know that there was more than an outside chance that Ali would have gone through with it!

Ali’s career at Freshfields later led her to Hong Kong where she was based for 18 months, writing back and forth to Simon – good old-fashioned letters, no email in those days! Then, after a four-year hiatus in their relationship, Simon serendipitously bumped into Sam, one of Ali’s closest friends, at a sailing event in Cornwall. Never one to miss an opportunity, Simon then arranged to meet Ali for a drink in the Admiral Codrington pub in Chelsea. Fortified by a couple of drinks, Simon declared his love for her …. news which, he reckons, almost caused Ali to flee the country let alone the building.

Thankfully she didn’t do either … and instead their relationship deepened. At the same time, her career was also taking off. Ali left Freshfields to become Head of Legal at Formula One, an extremely exciting, challenging and high pressure role and this was followed by a brief spell at World Rally as Director of Legal Affairs, but then daughter number two appeared.

This was the signal for her to turn her energies to Ottilie, Serena and, subsequently, Cosima, as well as the fledgling veneer business that Simon and Ali were building together. Here she took on the role of Managing Director, leaving Simon to focus on buying and selling. Her ability to think ‘outside the box’ and be a ‘creative disruptor’ made her a huge asset to the company and enabled Mundy Veneer to thrive and become highly successful – they made a great team.

Ali believed firmly in ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ If she was wrong, she would admit it; if she was right, she wouldn’t gloat.

Life for Ali, though, was always about far more than work. In 2002, she and Simon moved from Putney to Court Hall just up the road in Hockworthy, which was in a rather worse state of repair than they naively first imagined. At least ten years of builders followed – organised and managed by Ali, in tandem with looking after her family and growing a business.

Her love of community was strengthened in Hockworthy where she served on the PCC. Fellow members highlighted her “creative intelligence, her warmth and her ability to see things not everybody else had noticed.” A recurring theme, as we’ve already heard.

But despite Ali’s successes, both in her career and personal life, she never shouted about the good she did. She loved the simple things in life. One of her favourite things to do was to sit on the beach with fish and chips, disgustingly drenched in vinegar, completely at peace with the world. She absolutely loved the sea and the waves. The north Cornwall coast and in particular, St Agnes were among her favourite places.

The family will forever have fond memories of the many holidays they were lucky enough to enjoy together, not least in Kenya where Ali loved being able to see so many incredible animals.

She was a big music lover and never missed supporting Cosima with her endeavours, regardless of distance. Even travelling as far as New York to see Cosima sing as part of a choir in The Carnegie Hall, whilst suffering from a bout of bronchitis.

One of Ali’s most prized possessions was a piano she imported from Germany to have in the house. She suggested that Simon, in exchange, could buy a Porsche. In her mind, one unit of piano equalled one unit of supercar. Her generosity and impressive unique logic were all part of her personality.

Ali had a quiet, calm resilience which, after 55 years of mostly good health, proved useful in more recent times. Ali had no intention of dying and her priority for the last five years of her life was to be there as long as possible for the girls and to make the most of everything. Time is limited, she would say to Simon. ‘Use it’.

She once reprimanded Simon for using the analogy of the ‘Sword of Damocles’ to describe what was hanging over them all… ‘He was not to live that way or to think like that but, instead, focus on the present and all the good around us all’. It wasn’t so much a case of being positive for the sake of it. She hated the simplistic idea of ‘fighting’ her illness and decided instead that she would smother it with love.

Practising yoga, reiki, meditation and reading assorted books which might conceivably help also became part of her daily routine. She steadfastly refused to accept the doctors’ judgements that she would die imminently and was rewarded by being able to see Ottilie settle into London life, Serena graduate from St Andrews and Cosima embark on her real estate degree at Oxford Brookes.

Her dominant emotion for the last five years of her life was not anger but hope.

Amid it all, though, she also remained keen for Simon not to cut corners domestically. In some notes she gave to Trish White, she specified and insisted that the girls and Simon should ‘keep up the standards’ at home, i.e. they must continue to have Jo Malone in the bathrooms and White Company linen on the beds. Court Hall should continue to have the same loving, calming environment she had created, and as a result, her legacy is imbued into the place.

Thoughtful, kind, courageous, determined. You will all have your own memories of Ali but to Simon’s mind, her greatest achievement will always be her girls.

There’s a lovely Welsh saying which feels appropriate and roughly translates as follows...‘Though the light goes out the warmth will still be with us.’ God bless you, Ali. And, as Sinead O’Connor once sang, nothing compares to you.

Submitted by Simon Mundy