Autumn 2015

Margaret Anderson, 1925-2015

Margaret was born in Canterbury, Kent, the youngest of three children. When she was two they moved to Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, where she grew up. Leaving school at fourteen, she became an upholsterer’s apprentice for a short while, and then went into office work. After marrying Pat in 1950 she became a sailors wife, and in 1951, set sail from Liverpool to Malta, to meet up with Pat and it was here in December 1951 that their first daughter Christine was born. They returned to England and Jenny was born in 1954. A year later the family went back to Malta.

After finally settling down in Cowplain, it wasn’t until Christine and Jenny could fend for themselves, that Margaret took a job as an Avon lady, riding her bike, while wearing a fur hat, all the way to Denmead and back! After that she worked at Hutchinsons in Waterlooville, Batemans in Havant, and finally Securicor in Waterlooville.

It was during the 60’s that Margaret started coming to St George’s Church, a place that she could feel comfortable, and that nurtured her Christian beliefs. She and Pat helped out at Christmas, summer and craft fairs, and enjoyed outings with the church. Margaret was a longstanding member of St George’s Ladies Group. She found a lot of friendships here that have lasted for many years, the past few months she has been unable to attend church, but thanks to Linda Wainwright she has been kept up to date with news.

The most memorable thing about Margaret was her love for her family. They meant the world to her, and she loved having communications with them, either by phone, letters or postcards; she was always happy to receive letters from her brother David, her grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends, telling her all their news. She also enjoyed visits from them, and always managed to coerce Amanda, Colin, Emma and Lauren, to do little jobs for her, which she seemed to have craftily left undone.

Margaret didn’t get into computers or texting, although she did like to try and keep up with the times, so she could converse with her grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Joshua, Harry and Lexi; although she never did understand what broadband was!

Another love of hers was her bungalow and garden, Margaret lived in her bungalow since it was built 58 years ago, and cost £2,000! She cherished her garden, weeding, planting and watching her efforts come into bloom. In latter years she was not able to do so much physical work, she had people to help her, and loved sitting in her lounge or kitchen looking out at the flowers, her favourites being roses, and also watching the birds come to the feeders.

Her only grouch was the squirrels, which constantly dug up the bulbs she planted, and she tried all sorts of ways to combat this.

Margaret’s love of nature, and the countryside, led her and Pat to take many holidays around the British Isles, and she recently said one of her favourite places was Ireland; she loved the peace and quiet there and the green landscape. In later years after Pat had died, she took to visiting Christine and Bernie in Yorkshire, and going to Kent to see Jill and family. After a gruelling journey home from Yorkshire, she decided in future to fly up north so Jenny and Geoff used to take her to Southampton Airport, see her plane take off - they would then text Christine who would pick her up at Leeds. Not bad for a lady in her 80’s, she loved flying.

Margaret was also a skilled dressmaker; she did cross stitch, knitting and crochet, making blankets for most of the family. Along with cooking (she always made all her own meals), she passed these skills on to her two daughters. She was very proud of their achievements and hoped these talents would be passed on to the next generation.

Margaret will be remembered for her beautiful smile, her gentle ways, and her wonderful sense of humour, which she showed right through to the end. She will be very much missed by all who remember her.