Former Music Adjudicator and Chair of the Board of Trustees, Margaret is currently serving as the President of the Federation
Margaret entered her first Music Festival at the age of seven years, and continued to compete until the age of 17 years, when she entered the Royal Academy of Music to study Piano and Organ – joint first, and Second study, Cello.
She gained her PGCE at Bretton Hall, and began her teaching career in schools in the West Riding of Yorkshire. She entered pupils in Festivals individually and in instrumental groups as well as Choirs.
Margaret was invited to join the National Schools Council in London, and travelled regularly to Great Portland Street for meetings. She was also invited to sit on the Music A Level Committee for the Northern Universities Joint Matriculation Board (NUJMB)
In 1978-80 she spent a sabbatical year away from teaching, and attended an Organisation and Management Course at Leeds University.
She answered an invitation to become Music Consultant for North East England Girl Guide Association, a position she held for three years. During this time the Girl Guide Association celebrated 75 years of guiding, so there was considerable media coverage, including the live television broadcast of a Sunday morning Service in Tyneside when, whilst conducting the singing, the organ broke down. Everything continued; an experience Margaret, and others, will never forget, as the Guides and Brownies at the service continued unaccompanied for the remainder of that Service.
Six months later Margaret was invited to take on the responsibilities of Music Consultant at National level, which carried with it the responsibility for training at all ages, forming the Scout and Guide Symphony Orchestra each year, for rehearsal and then performances in Sweden at the invitation of the King of Sweden, or Washington, with a performance at the White House.
Margaret maintains responsibility for the choir at her local Church, and has been Secretary for the Amenity Society in Darfield for over thirty years, a position she still holds. This entails being the Trustee for a Yeoman’s house, dated 1749, transformed with the help of a Lottery Grant into a Museum and Heritage Centre, covering all aspects of village life through the ages.
Margaret was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Federation for around 20 years, firstly representing Music and England, then, as Chair of the Festival Council, followed by Vice Chairman of the Board, before being elected as Chairman from 2005 until 2014. This post she has enjoyed, through visiting many Festivals, meeting organisers and volunteers at home and abroad, as well as working with the Board of Trustees and the staff team at Festivals House.