Remembering Alice Tankel

We were extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Alice Tankel last week, a dear friend of Jewish Care Scotland (JCS) who dedicated her life to supporting our organisation and many others across Glasgow and the wider communities. We would like to shine light on Alice’s story and the difference that she made to so many of us.

Born in 1936, Alice has been described as those who knew her as “a natural carer who made a difference to everybody’s life that she came in contact with”.

Having joined Glasgow Jewish Welfare Board (now known as Jewish Care Scotland) in 1966, Alice was a befriender and joint Honorary Secretary of the Ladies Welfare Committee. She was always keen to learn and expand upon her skill set, attending college to learn shorthand and later graduating as a mature student in Psychology at the University of Strathclyde.

An extremely motivated and inspirational character, Alice was a real go-getter who did everything she could to improve the lives of others. She was always very keen on training, learning about counselling and working with people. Also taking on the role as Housing Officer for the Glasgow Jewish Housing Association, Alice dedicated much of her time to ensuring the welfare of local residents. A former colleague of Alice said:

“She did everything in her power to make sure people were supported, whether it was financial support or guidance. She was a great mentor, and you became her friend, as well as her colleague. She really was greatly loved and respected by everybody.”

After the passing of her beloved husband, Albert, Alice set up the Albert Tankel Bursary to facilitate staff training opportunities at JCS. Continuing Alice’s ethos to do all that she could to help others, Albert’s fund has been invaluable to JCS. Through this support our staff have been able to receive training and development opportunities, providing them with the knowledge, insight and compassion to best care for and support those who use our services.

Some of the training funded includes some of the team completing their SVQ3 in Health and Social Care, meaning these individuals are more skilled to provide care and support services to some of our most vulnerable clients, as well as allowing staff and volunteers to access good quality mental health training in 2019, with everyone reporting how grateful they were for the opportunity.  None of this would have been possible without Alice’s support and we will be forever grateful.

JCS Chief Executive Julie Marshall added, “I, like everyone in the community, was deeply saddened to learn the news of Alice’s passing.  Having met Alice a few times I was always struck by her commitment and dedication to JCS: her compassion and determination to ensure the community were supported, seemed as important to her in her later years, as it always was when she was leading the way in helping those less fortunate than herself.  My conversations with others have echoed these sentiments, with every single person saying how much Alice and her husband Albert were Jewish Care and that they always went that extra mile for others.  Alice warmly welcomed me when I took up my role with the charity and her support of JCS continued until the end.  Everyone at JCS is very grateful to her and her late husband Albert for their generosity and kindness, and I’m sure the whole community will continue to feel this loss for a very long time to come.  Alice was a very special person.”

An incredible woman who has touched hundreds of lives, we feel honoured to have met Alice and will cherish her memory. In the words of her colleague and close friend:

“We should celebrate Alice’s life. It was a life well-lived.”

On behalf of all of JCS and the many others who have benefited from knowing Alice, we would like to wish a long life to her sons, David and Tony, the Tankel family, and all those who knew her.