How Margaret rebuilt her life | Discover

Margaret has always enjoyed surprising others with her unexpected career choice.

“When people try to guess what I did they say, ‘oh you’re so little you were probably a dancer’,” Margaret laughs, knowing that her interests had in fact led her towards a very different career path. “But I was actually a builder,” she reveals. “When people find out what I really did, they go, ‘wow, there weren’t any lady builders back then!’ I would do plastering and woodwork, bricklaying and decorating. And I loved every minute of it.”

Margaret has plenty of stories about stunning others with her surprise skills. “I asked a bloke from the council who’d come to fix the plumbing if I could borrow a scaffolding plank so I could paint the high ceiling over the stairs,” she recalls. “He said, ‘Are you sure you want to be doing that my dear? It’s very steep.’ He said he’d have to see me walk on it first! So he came round with it and of course I jumped straight on and started doing stuff, while he stood there with his mouth open. The next day he offered me a job! My husband was in fits of laughter.”

Now aged 87, Margaret’s love of construction has never subsided – she recently repaired the front porch of her house, and redecorated all the rooms from top to bottom. But, on doctor’s orders, she was persuaded to hang up her hard hat – professionally, at least – five years ago, at the age of 82. “The doctor told me I couldn’t do it anymore because the work was too heavy,” Margaret explains. “So I just do it for myself now, not for anybody else!”