My friend Margaret Blacklock Evans, who has died aged 90, was an educator, champion swimmer and talented amateur botanist. She contributed to her community until the very end of her life.
She was born in Dudley, in the West Midlands, to John Evans, an engineer and draughtsman, and his wife Marjorie (nee Withey). A bright girl, she was encouraged by her parents to try for a scholarship that enabled her to take up a place at Girton College, Cambridge, where she read geography. She always said she was grateful to her parents for giving her the opportunity – it was unusual in those days, and in her modest circumstances, for a girl to be educated beyond 16. While at Cambridge she was captain of the women’s swimming team, and in later life she joined Redbridge Masters Swimming Club. She broke a number of world records in the 60-75 age groups up to the year 2000.
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