GENERATIONS of families from the Eynsham area are mourning the death of Margaret Gunstone, writes Don Chapman.

A dedicated stalwart of education, Mrs Gunstone died last Friday at the age of 86.

She spent many years as secretary at Bartholomew School in Witney Road, Eynsham. Former head of Bartholomew School, Roger Brookin said: “I worked closely with her from 1975 to 1984 and came to admire her enormously.

“Margaret was incredibly well organised and hardworking, dealing with the school’s finances and administration. Her contribution to the school and the wider community was invaluable. She was immensely kind and generous and many former parents and ex-pupils remember her with gratitude and affection.”

She was born Margaret Steel at Barrow-in-Furness in 1925, where her father was an engineer in the ship-building industry.

The family moved to Johannesburg during the Second World War, when her father answered a call from the South African Government. There Margaret learned typing and shorthand.

When her father’s health deteriorated, they booked their return passages to England. But the train taking them to the docks was late. The boat they missed was sunk and the family, counting their blessings, returned home aboard a Dutch warship.

While working as a local government secretary back in Barrow, Margaret met another shipping engineer, her future husband Denis Gunstone, and when he took a job at Pressed Steel, Cowley, she followed him south, working first as a secretary at Warneford Hospital, then in Pressed Steel’s Prestcold refrigeration division.

Mrs Gunstone retired in 1989 but continued to serve on the committee of the Adult Education Centre and manage its finances until well into her 70s. Ray Evans, who joined the staff of the school in 1963 and became deputy head to Mr Clarke, recalled: “Margaret was immaculately dressed and immaculate in her duties. She was the fount of all knowledge.”

She was a stalwart member of Eynsham Day Centre and Eynsham Theatre Club, travelling regularly to venues up and down the country, latterly in her wheelchair.

A celebration service, conducted by her friend, the Rev Michael Farthing, will take place at 3pm tomorrow in St Leonard’s Church, Eynsham, followed by private cremation. The congregation are asked to wear bright colours.

Mrs Gunstone, whose husband Denis died in 2001, leaves daughters Elizabeth and Kathleen and grandsons Rupert and Dominic.