THE FAMILY of an adopted Cumbrian have remembered her as dedicating her life to public service.

Marguerite Anne Robinson, known as Maggie, was born during a summer heatwave, on May 29, 1947 to Daphne and Leonard Appleby, at 10 Kent Avenue.

Marguerite’s early years were spent in Bedford, in post-war austerity, but supported by a close-knit community, a wonderful Mum, a hard-working Dad and a colourful cast of many aunties and uncles.

When she was five she spent a memorable two years in Barbados, when her father, Len got a job as an engineer in a sweet factory.

She made friends easily and loved communication, reading and theatre. Her college years were at Manchester teacher training college during the swinging sixties. She turned her new found skills into a craft as an English teacher at Dunsmore Girls School.

She moved from teaching to the Education Department of Warwickshire County Council, then Community Education Development Centre, where she enjoyed the variety of setting up grass roots projects which aimed to improve people’s lives through education and empowerment.

Maggie saw an opportunity as Education Officer for the British Dietetic Association, based in Birmingham. Here, she enjoyed the challenge of working in a national organisation and meeting many different professionals from all over the UK.

During her time in Rugby, Maggie’s natural Socialism developed further and she became active in Rugby and Kenilworth Labour Party. Her efforts in former MP Andy King’s election campaign led to her being invited to the House of Commons and the Queen’s Garden Party.

In the 2000s, Maggie decided to move to Cumbria where she could live with and care for her mum in a bungalow in Warwick on Eden.

Determined to be active in her new community, she became a parish councillor for Wetheral, magistrate on Carlisle Crown Court, a school governor at Newtown School and Brook Street, worked for Carlisle United – setting up an educational programme ‘Playing for Success’ and later was on the board of Carlisle Citizens Advice.

After her mum passed in 2009 her daughter Kate gave birth to twins Eleanor and Fabian in January 2011, and Maggie chose to sell up and move to Oxford to be with Kate, Steve and the grandchildren. However, it was Cumbria and the beautiful Eden Valley that Maggie chose to settle in for the last stage of her life. She moved to Houghton, on the outskirts of Carlisle in 2014.