Just been lucky enough to have found this lovely little memory of Maggie. My name is Terry Beckwith and I am a first cousin of Maggie. My mum and uncle Len, Margaret's dad, were brother and sister and I have fond memories of Margaret, and  indeed her whole family, mainly between the years 1955 to 1965. 

Maggie was just 6 months younger than myself, and she was, without doubt, my favourite cousin. During the 1950s my father was fortunate enough to possess a car, and this enabled us to make frequent Sunday afternoon visits to uncle Lens, first at Staveley then Brimington Common. I have to consider myself fortunate to have had a cousin as lovely as Margaret. 


Music was a major force in Margaret's house; there was always a piano available to play, and uncle Len's drums were frequently adorning the front room. As a young man uncle Len had played in local dance bands, but from the sixties onwards he was committed to the working men's club scene. For as long as I could remember Maggie had always been dancing; numerous cups were displayed in the front room and around the house.

I can still recall all the family gathering around the piano singing the  Mario Lanza song 'The Loveliest Night of the Year' while uncle Len played the piano.

In January 1963 I went down to London for a six week hairdressing course at Watermans School of Hairdressing, and it was Margaret who organised everything for me, including my accommodation in the same hostel that she was living at, in South Kensington. I really don't think I could have managed without her. A little anecdote I recall from my time in London, was returning to the hostel one evening to find Margaret in a state of high agitation, apparently, not two hours earlier she had found herself sitting next to Rudolf Nureyev on the tube; for an ambitious dancer this was like meeting god.

We both got married in 1968, but through circumstances neither of us attended each other's weddings. After 1964 I saw very little of Margaret, meeting on a few occasions only. I did speak to her fairly frequently up to 2006 but the final time I met her was in 1997. She had come up to see her mum and dad and came to see my mum who was extremely ill in hospital. She did manage to visit mum shortly before she died, and she then stayed on for another week to attend the funeral, which was a very kind and thoughtful decision. 

Over the last few years of her life I spoke periodically over the phone to Margaret, and although she was becoming less mobile and more tired she was always positive. It's now 13 years since we lost Margaret and I still keep her in my thoughts. She was a lovely cousin and a generous friend.