Margaret Hart

Ivy wanted to leave something for Grandma. Her words: she let us stay up late and she always gave the dog the last bit of toast. She is seven and she is very worried about who is going to make the biscuits now.

Kath, there is parking on site at Golders Green, right by the chapel, so no real walking to speak of. Please do come. And thank you everyone for the messages, Mum would have been astonished. See a lot of you Saturday.

Is there parking at the crematorium? We would very much like to come but my husband can't manage a long walk. Sorry to ask on here, I didn't want to trouble the family directly.

I was rubbish at art and Mrs Hart never once made me feel that way. I still have the little watercolour she helped me finish for the leavers' show, it's framed on my wall all these years later. Thank you for everything, Mrs Hart.

Found this in a box of old school stuff. Her classroom, must be 1994 or 95. She let us in at lunchtimes to finish things off and I basically lived in there for two years.

Margaret was our neighbour for over fifteen years and always had a kind word over the garden fence. She will be dearly missed on our street.

Found this old photo of Mum from years ago while going through some boxes. No idea who took it. Thank you to everyone who has shared such kind words this week, we have been reading them out to each other.

So very sorry to hear about Margaret. We shall miss seeing her at the Tuesday group. Our thoughts are with all the family.

Mrs Hart taught me in the late 70s. I went on to art college because of her, she wrote to my parents to persuade them it was a proper career. I don't think she ever knew what that meant to me.

I worked alongside Margaret in the art department for eleven years and I don't think I've ever met anyone with more patience. She had this trick of standing behind a child who was convinced they couldn't draw and just saying nothing at all until they'd worked it out for themselves, and then she'd say "there you go" as if she'd had nothing to do with it. She did that with the staff as well, mind. I was a very anxious NQT in 1991 and she more or less taught me how to teach without ever once making me feel like I was being taught. I retired in 2009 and we still had lunch twice a year, every year, right up until this spring. I shall miss her enormously.