Margaret Theresa George (30 Oct 1930 - 15 Nov 2018)

In loving memory of Margaret Theresa George who sadly passed away on 15th November 2018.

The youngest child of a Welsh Guard and a WW1 nurse, Margaret was born in St Pancras, London, where she still lived, aged 10, when WW2 broke out. Refusing to be evacuated she stayed beside her mother. Margaret set herself to being useful and rapidly rose through the ranks of under-16s who followed the ARP after the all clear to scavenge through bombed out homes for reusable materials for the war effort. Acknowledgment was in the form of military rank according to weight of materials reclaimed.

Margaret went on to join the Land Army and was stationed in Suffolk where she grew to love the area, whilst also learning to drive tractors and become very good with cattle,. Margaret once got into trouble for having such a trust with a young bull calf that she could walk him into town and leave him tethered outside the shop, where he was less tolerant of others and put people off trying to enter the shop.

When her father became ill Margaret returned to the family home now in West London, and applied her skills on the large farm that was behind St Bernards Hospital in Hanwell. Her beloved Ivor often told of their first date for which she was very late, resulting in him tramping across a muddy field to the farm in search of her, ruining his one demob suit in the process. There she was, unable to leave, successfully dealing with a cow in breech birth; one whole arm invisible, grabbing hold of tiny hooves while others looked on. He would always tell us, their children, that this was the moment that he fell deeply in love with her.

By the 1950s Margaret had also signed up for the Auxiliary Fire Service, becoming a radio controller, gaining her advanced and night driving skills and being promoted to driver of the fire station's Green Goddess (Bedford RLHZ) Fire Engine, one of only 1,000 in the country.

Margaret and Ivor wed in 1953, and together they fostered her war-wounded brother's children until beginning their own family in 1961. By 1969 Margaret was back in full time work, working variously as admin for the church in central London "Dealing with missionaries and serving tea to some really nice bishops" as she put it, as Director of an building and architects company and as the first secretary and unofficial mediator for the fledgling Indian Workers Association whose cause in claiming equal and fair treatment was close to her heart.

In all this time she remained a firm friend to those in need, often holding open house to relatives or local children or standing vigil overnight with local women through severe illness or loss of a child. At church she became one of the people who could be relied upon to give lifts or man a stall, and she stood as advocate, contact and runner for each of her brothers and their wives as one by one they needed hospital or passed away.

Her last and longest role before retirement in 1990 was as Medical Secretary to consultants at Ealing hospital, and her work was so good that the hospital or individual consultants would buy her services back in, first on a short week and later on an ad hoc basis long after she retired. This continued until she decided to leave West London and return to Suffolk after her beloved Ivor passed on. It was time, she let us know, to live somewhere more cheerful and less full of sad memories.

In Suffolk as in Southall, Margaret was a staunch member of the local church and sometime church secretary, having a natural flair for administration and a love of making herself useful. She was also a skilled member of the local bowls club and enjoyed bell-ringing. More recently, as she aged, Margaret became well known for her deft and speedy control of her motability scooter and her determination to, as much as possible, collect her own prescriptions, do her own shopping and generally keep busy.

In hearing from others about our mother, what we hear referred to most is her immense kindness and willingness to put herself out for others. Second most mentioned is her jubilant and impish sense of humour and daring, which in later years she would keep relatively secret until someone needed startling as well as cheering up.

Margaret has left us, and is survived by her three children Cheryl, David and Russell; her cherished nieces Deborah, Sian and Fenella, her six grandchildren, four great grandchildren plus two infant great great grandchildren. At the end she was surrounded by family and passed peacefully.

We can never remember her being without a pet dog (and sometimes a whole menagerie) and trust that all those animals are also now back in the picture for mum, along with quite a few cows.

We love you mum, you are a hard act to follow.