Yvonne Edwards (aunt and, later, guardian)

Yvonne was a headteacher in London and never married. When Maggie could no longer tolerate living with her stepmother, she caught a train to London – she was about 11 years old. Forewarned, Yvonne was waiting at Paddington and became her guardian. Maggie never spoke to her father again.

She had first become a head at a Battersea secondary school – relatively young, in her mid 30s – and was appointed to Albany School in Enfield in 1967 as it became a Comprehensive. She was very pro-active and , like her father, always quick to seize an opportunity to promote her cause. Here are some clippings from local papers at the time …

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Despite her career successes I often felt sad that she had not found a companion in life – in some ways I am sure Maggie helped to fill that void. She spent all her holidays travelling and started to write articles for magazines describing her adventures. For some while she had traveled with a companion but after he succumbed to cancer she remained alone. Maggie then accompanied her on many trips, including to North Africa. In this picture they are a little closer to home!
After her retirement she moved to Portsmouth to be nearer to us and lived first in a flat facing Southsea Common, not far from the Queens Hotel and later in a little house in Victoria Road South – handy for Waitrose! She, like her mother, sister, brother and, of course, Maggie, died of cancer at a young age, little more than 60. She is buried in Milton Cemetery, Portsmouth.

NOTE TO ME: SCAN TRAVEL ARTICLE(S)