I first met Margaret when as a mature student i studied History at A Level and she was the teacher. I am not sure that Margaret was sure about have a 48 yr old in the classroom but she was willing to give it a go. We did have in common that we used to both write with a navy fountain pen which the young students thought was really funny.

i can remember we had Margaret last lesson on a friday and the kids would say to me ‘go on you distract her by asking about cats and the lesson will be gone by the time she has chatted about them’. They knew that her love of cats was a really big thing in her life.

She told me that she on e had to rescue a mum cat and her kittens and had nowhere to keep them and had to go in to teach so took them to NC with her. She spent the day rotating them from empty classroom to staff room toma oid the Head finding out. I think there are few teachers there who got away without adopting one of Margaret’s rescues.

Certainly i did not escape! Three years ago she turned up at my door with an injured cat she had found abandoned on the slip road at Tong on the M54. She managed to entice the cat to her car by leaving a trail of cat food. Who keeps cat food in their car for just such an occasion? Anyway, thats how i ended up with Rosie my three legged wonder. She had to have her back leg amputated and her pelvis plated but without Margaret’s ingenuity and big heart, she would have perished without doubt as she could not hunt or anything. For me, Margaret’s beaming face whenever she spoke about the fur babies showed what a deep love and compassion she had for them, and it was without doubt reciprocated.

She will be missed in so many ways but her big heart and compassion will always be remembered.