A COMMUNITY campaigner and former Evening Times Scotswoman of the Year has died, aged 79.

Pensioner Betty McAllister - once dubbed "Battling Betty" for her campaigns to improve life in Glasgow's East End - passed away at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary after a long battle with cancer.

She set up the first residents association in her neighbourhood - the Calton - and campaigned for better homes, jobs and community facilities.

Betty was also a community councillor and later became chairwoman of Calton and Bridgeton Community Council.

She was also a familiar face at Glasgow's Barras Market, where she ran Betty's Seafood.

She was involved in numerous groups at the market, including the Crime Prevention Panel, the Barrowland Action group and clubs for pensioners and children.

Betty won the prestigious Evening Times Scotswoman of the Year award in 1984 for her tireless community work.

Other causes Betty supported over the years included the campaign to stop a doctors surgery moving into a residential street in 2005, a rally against the closure of St Mary's Primary School in the East End in 1991 and a call for action over the run-down People's Palace.

She also spoke out over Orange Order parades in the Scottish Parliament, which she said brought "terror" to her area, plus campaigned against a planned centre for drug addicts in Calton.

Betty's funeral was held yesterday.

She leaves a husband, Danny, a daughter Daniella. Betty also had four sisters Margaret, Jean, Anna and the late Beatrice.

Last year she stepped down in her involvement of the Calton Area Association due to ill health.