The Funeral Eulogy

Margaret was not only my sister, but for a short time she filled the role of my mother. How many people would take on responsibility for a difficult teenager at the same time as being a wonderful parent to her own two small sons? Margaret did, and this commitment was typical of the whole of her life.

Wherever Margaret encountered somebody who needed her help she provided it; immediately, unstintingly and with friendship.

For well over forty years Margaret has been a respected, admired and valued member of this community. She has had a strong association with Holy Trinity Church and her sons, Robert and Simon, sang in the choir here. I fondly remember Simon's wedding at this church, which was the great community event that everything associated with Margaret has always been. Her husband David's ashes are here.

Coming to Witney as young adults, Margaret and David immediately adopted the town as their own and they became key members of the community from the beginning. The number of organisations to which Margaret committed her immense energy are far too many to mention individually. The common thread with them all is that she was never content to simply be present. Whether it was voluntary work in adult literacy or with youth; or her lifelong personal interests such as motoring or the WRAF, she worked hard and gave huge amounts of her time. If it was as a teacher and mentor or as the treasurer of a myriad of organisations, Margaret was at the heart of things. Always contributing her enthusiasm, her skills, her energy, her compassion and her friendship.

What is even more remarkable about this is that the devotion to good causes and personal interests did not stop Margaret from having an astonishingly full family, social, sporting and recreational life.

It sometimes seemed to me that wherever in the world anybody might care to mention, Margaret had taken a holiday there. Not only that, she had friends there and was probably corresponding with them as well as offering hospitality if ever they came to England.

Devoted to her grandchildren, as she always had been to her children, Margaret swam, cycled and walked with them, building the love of life that had always characterised her own personality.

When I was a very small child and Margaret was soon to be married, we went on a family holiday to Pontins. A feature of such holidays was the competitions held every evening during the collective entertainment. There was everything that you might expect. Fancy dress, sporting tournaments, knobbly knees, you know the style. Prizes didn't amount to anything more than packets of sweets or something similar, but Margaret and David set about winning the lot. I was not exempt. For the children's fancy dress I was put into a pair of swimming trunks knitted by my mum and with leaves carefully sewn into them by Margaret. A little girl was hi-jacked and kitted out similarly. I was provided with an apple and we set out hand in hand to compete as Adam and Eve in the under fives section. I disgraced myself by taking a bite out of the apple during judging, but we won nevertheless. Margaret won the tennis, table tennis & swimming. With David they won the Topsy Turvy dressed in each others clothes, the knobbly knees and the adult fancy dress. They swept the board. Nobody else stood a chance.

The same success, good spirit and fun continued throughout her life.

Margaret was missed when she retired from the TSB, but she was still with us and many people still remember her from her work there. She was missed when she no longer had her familiar Austin Seven, but she was still with us, and the spirit of travel and adventure continued. Margaret will be missed now, but she will still be with us.

The tragic loss of David when he was so young is now a long time ago, but Margaret thought about him and talked about him often. She will be content to be at rest with him here.

Goodbye Margaret

We love you