Margaret has lived in Verwood with husband Ray since August 2013.

She was born in the Midlands, a couple of years after the end of World War 2, with a dislocated hip, though her parents did not realise that at the time. There was no NHS ‘free at the point of need’ in those days, so when they found out, her parents began trying to raise a loan for the necessary surgery. Luckily, however, by the time the operation came due the NHS was up and running.

The operation was successful but Margaret was not a good patient. On one occasion when her Mum was doing housework she decided to try dancing on the bed and broke her leg, though as it was still in plaster it was just left to heal by itself.

When she was about 10 years old Margaret visited a ballroom dance studio with a friend and fell in love with dancing. After 7 years of classes and numerous exams, she was such a good dancer that she was given a splendid offer – to join what was known as ‘the circuit’, travelling the country taking part in ballroom dancing contests. It was an interesting opportunity but Margaret knew that her parents would probably not be able to fund it for long, so on leaving school she opted for a college secretarial course. She’d only been in her first job a few weeks when her mother contracted pneumonia and on the doctor’s instructions her daughter had to give up work to nurse her. After that she landed a good job as Secretary to the Managing Director of a medium-sized company, but again fate took a hand when a flu epidemic struck, laying most of the staff low, and she found herself off the typewriter and smoking hams ready for packaging, bagging up loose flour and even helping to load the vans. Multi-tasking we’d call it today!

Her next job as Manager in a Finance company sounded very prestigious – until she found out that she was the only employee! Still, it got her out and about collecting monies until in 1971 she fell ill with a kidney infection. During her illness her then fiancé never phoned or visited her. During her recovery she went along with her parents to a ballroom class which turned out to be run by her teachers from long ago and she started going there regularly. One day a handsome young guy called Ray came along to the classes and his family sat next to hers. He was looking for a partner. He paired up with Margaret, and you can guess the rest. 

In 2006 Ray was offered early retirement and he and Margaret took the exciting and bold step of buying a house in France. It was a wonderful time, but as they still had their home in the UK it involved a lot of travelling to and fro. After 3 years of this they decided enough was enough, sold their French house, and came to settle in the south of England as Margaret had always wanted. So it was they came to Verwood, which had the added attraction of being close to Bournemouth Hospital so a specialist clinic could keep an eye on Margaret’s health which had not been too good. And there they are still. They celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary just recently and we wish them many more years of happy life together.