Alison Raju R.I.P.

We are sad to announce the passing of another CSJ stalwart, Alison Raju.  Not only was Alison Vice Chair of the CSJ for a number of years, she was also heavily involved with the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome as well as the Vézelay association in France.  She wrote numerous guides to the Caminos in France and Spain, as well as the Via Francigena and the St Olav's Way in Norway. She was also instrumental in the running of Refugio Gaucelmo in Rabanal, where she is well known among the locals. 

Former Chairman William Griffiths writes: "Alison was a pioneering and thoroughly devoted writer of pilgrim guides, both for the CSJ and for Cicerone Press. We still have some of her guides available for sale. On the Vézelay route, she was the principal mover of a little group of 4 CSJ members who liaised with the late Monique and Jean-Charles Chassain about producing an English version of the famous Itineraire or Guide Jaune. We did not translate the whole work, just a glossary of French terms and an English version of the Introductory Booklet (available in our Library, under 'Chassain'). Once I was an hospitalier at Estaing, the bell rang, and there was Alison, wearing a rucksac behind and one in front ! (She was rewalking the Le Puy route, to produce new editions of her CSJ and Cicerone guides.) May she rest in peace at the end of her pilgrimage."