Kind hearted Timperley lady leaves Henshaws more than £130000 in her will
In memory of Margret Wolstencroft
Born 13 May 1913 – Died 17 February 2009, aged 95
Loved … Remembered … Missed
Kind hearted Timperley lady leaves Henshaws more than £130,000 in her will
Henshaws announced today that it has been the beneficiary of a bequest of more than £130,000 from the will of long standing Henshaws supporter Margaret Wolstencroft.
In a long life that spanned the reign of four Monarchs Margaret, also know to many as Peggy, experienced both happiness and great personal tragedy, but regardless of whatever life put in front of her she remained a strong, determined and caring person who showed great sensitivity and compassion to those around her.
Born in Manchester on the 13th of May 1913, Margaret lived the first 26 years of her life in Sedgely Park, Prestwich with her parents, grandmother and two younger brothers Robert and Fred. In September 1920, their father Fred, died, and Sarah Ellen Wolstencroft was left to raise their three children alone. As a professional singer with the Carl Rosa Opera Company Sarah Ellen toured the country and consequently the children were inevitably sent away to boarding school, in Margaret’s case to the Crossleys School in Yorkshire at the age of ten.
As she herself was later to say, this was not a happy time in her life and Margaret suffered terribly from homesickness, missing family life with her mother and her brothers greatly. Soon after leaving school at 16 Margaret was offered a post at Schofield Insurance Brokers, where she was to spend the next 44 years.
Early in 1939 the family moved to a new house in Beeston Avenue, Timperley, which was to become Margaret’s home for the next 70 years. By this time her brother Fred had become very ill with Leukaemia and both Margaret and her mother nursed him until his death, at the age of 23, in August of that year. Tragedy was to strike the family again when her other brother Robert, who was serving with the Royal Artillery, was killed on active service in May of 1944. Margaret was a great comfort to her grieving mother in the years to come and when in turn she fell ill it was Margaret who nursed her until her death in 1955.
Despite the loss of her parents and siblings Margret always kept in touch with her wider family and for many years she and her cousin Richard, who also never married, became close friends, enjoying many adventures on their travels around the world. Richard, who had been born with impaired vision, became less able to care for himself at is home in London and he moved to Timperley in the 1980’s where Margaret was able to look after him. The two of them enjoyed many happy times during this period and were often to be seen walking and cycling around the Cheshire countryside. In the 1990’s Richard’s health began to deteriorate and once again Margaret selfless nature came to the fore and she cared for him at home until his death in 1995.
Like her mother Margaret had a passion for music and she had a longstanding love of the Theatre and the Opera, as well as being an active member of a local music group. As well as being a great supporter of the Conservative Party (she sat on the local party committee), Margaret was also an enthusiastic member of the Church Ladies Association and the National Trust.
In later years she weathered a number of health setbacks and suffered from both vision and hearing impairments, and in late 2008 she left the house that had been her home for nearly 70 years and moved into a retirement home in Mobberley. Margaret died quietly in her sleep on February 17 2009 and although she had only been living at the Home for a comparatively short time she had made a great impression on staff and fellow residents alike, making a number of new friends and taking an active part in the social life at the home. She had especially taken great delight in the grand piano there, played regularly for the residents, which reminded her of happy times in her youth when her mother would play in the family home for family and friends.
Tom Clark, Henshaws Legacies Manager, said: “I had the honour of meeting Margaret personally on a number of occasions, she was a lovely lady and a long time supporter of Henshaws Society for Blind People. Charities such as ours rely on the selfless generosity of people like Margaret, who throughout her own life repeatedly went to great lengths to care for others. Now, even though she has passed on, with this bequest she has ensured that the spirit in which she has lived her life is reflected in the legacy she has left to the world. Because of this wonderful lady local blind and visually impaired people will continue to receive high quality help and assistance from Henshaws to cope with and overcome their visual impairment.”
Margaret’s friend Elaine Woods said: “When Margaret’s cousin Richard died he left her part of his estate and it was his wish that in life she used this legacy for her own use, but thereafter that she in turn would leave it to a good cause for helping Blind People, as Richard himself had impaired vision from birth and knew himself the handicaps that this imposed. I knew Richard myself and so at the moment I feel very close to both of them because I feel we have carried out what they both wanted with this bequest to Henshaws.”
To find out more about how to remember Henshaws in your will please visit our Legacy and in memory giving page at the address below:
http://www.henshaws.org.uk/get-involved/legacy-and-in-memorium/
Alternatively contact:
Tom Clark
Henshaws Legacies Manager
Tel: 0161 786 3691
Email: tom.clark@henshaws.org.uk
