A LONG serving community volunteer, who dedicated 60 years to the Scouting movement, has died at the age of 97.
Margaret Topham, known as Peggy to many, moved to Baildon in the 1940s and started her lifelong involvement with the Scout movement in the late 1950s with husband Fred Glover, as well as undertaking huge amounts of volunteer work through churches across the area.
The couple started the 11th Baildon Moravian group in 1959 with a group of eight cubs. They continued to run troops until the mid-1970s. Margaret then established the 10th Shipley St. Walburga’s Cub group in 1980 and continued to be involved with Cubs, Scouts and Beavers groups around the Baildon, Shipley and Saltaire areas over the next four decades.
She played a significant role in establishing Beaver colonies, for younger boys aged six to eight, in the district, with two colonies at 11th Shipley ultimately being named after her, one of which, the Topham Beaver Colony, is still active today. She was later appointed as Assistant District Commissioner for Beaver Scouts, a position she held for many years.
Aside from Scouting, Margaret was one of the first Peripatetic Wardens in the Shipley district, looking after the residents of the small council bungalows on Cliffe Avenue in Baildon.
Linda Malloy, Aire Valley Scout District Chair, said: “Margaret was a member of the Shipley and Baildon District for decades, dedicated to the ethos of scouting and working with children to enrich their lives.
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“Many of us had the pleasure of working with Margaret over the years, as she worked in various groups and worked tirelessly to develop the Beaver section in the District when it was launched more than 30 years ago."
Margaret’s eldest daughter, Jean Calvert, said: “Mum was one of a kind, a true Scot who loved her adopted Yorkshire.
“She lived a very long and full life, helping so many people over the years. We have been inundated with messages from the Scouting world and the organisations she was associated with, expressing how much she did for the community and them personally and so we really want to give her a good send off.”
Margaret, was Mum to Jean, Susan, and Iain, a Grandmother of four and a Great-Grandmother to five, passed away on July 29 at Elderthorpe Residential Home in Shipley.
Her funeral will take place at St Aiden’s Church in Baildon at 10am on Thursday, September 1.
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