Margaret Wytrazek, who made a huge contribution to the cultural life of Fife, has died aged 97.
She was one of the founders of the Auchtermuchty pantomime, was an administrator at Falkland Palace and, at the age of 70, learned to play the fiddle.
Margaret became a member of Gateside Music Society and Dunfermline Strathspey and Reel Society, with which she performed in Norway and the United States.
She was born in October 1925 at Lumquat Mill, Auchtermuchty, into the Lumsden farming family, who came from Perthshire but had connections in Auchtermuchty going back several generations.
The family moved from Lumquat Mill to Upper Greens in 1927.
School days
Margaret was educated at Auchtermuchty primary and secondary school during the 1930s and also joined the Girl Guides..
Her first job was at the local knitwear factory where she worked right through the Second World War years.
The conflict led to her meeting her future husband, Jan, a Polish soldier who had moved close to where the family lived.
Jan had been forced to enlist in the German army after the invasion of Poland and had managed to escape and make his way across Europe to join the Polish army in Britain.
After the war, Jan went to art college in Dundee but later concentrated on his career as a painter and decorator.
Marriage
The couple married in Auchtermuchty Town Hall in 1947 and then welcomed son John, daughter Mamie and twins Pauline and Elizabeth.
The family lived happily in North Park and made the occasional road trip to Poland to visit Jan’s family.
As the children grew up, Margaret returned to work and held posts at grand houses including Scone Palace, Crawford Priory and also worked at Stokes of Ladybank.
Her last job was at Falkland Palace. Margaret only retired at the age of 84 but went back to work as a volunteer guide, often in period costume.
Margaret had a great affinity for the stage and had been a member of the McGillvary amateur dramatics group before performing with the SWRI.
Pantomime
She and other rural members wrote a pantomime for a competition in 1979, which went on to launch the annual Auchtermuchty pantomime in which she performed each year.
Margaret was a singer of note and a member of the church and SWRI choirs. She was also an elder of Auchtermuchty Church and had served as session clerk, and clerk to the congregational board.
A country dancer until she was 80, Margaret was grandmother to eight and great-grandmother to 10 children.
You can read the family’s announcement here.
Conversation