Tributes to former community councillor Margaret Doak

Margaret Doak, who was a founder member of Gourock Community Council, lost a short but brave battle against cancer earlier this month.

Her grieving family say their mum was very proud of her family and of her community.

Her daughter Margaret McGowan, 58, said: "My mum was very strong and a bit of a trailblazer and always fought for what was right.

"We used to say people would give her the bullets and she'd fire them.

"She was a founder member of Gourock Community council and was constantly taking up local causes.

"Mum was very much involved in a man's world but she wouldn't let that stop her if she thought she was right. She battled for so much."

Margaret was a proud Gourockian even though she was born at her grandparents' house on Brisbane Street in Greenock in 1936.

The family moved to Shore Street when she and her sister Jean were young and her parents Ian and Peggy Shearer then went on to have Studio Clyde, a photography business, in Kempock Street.

Margaret had a narrow escape when a Nazi bomb struck their home in Shore Street and neighbours were out looking for the family.

Her daughter said: "By chance they had been visiting my mum's grandparents in Brisbane Street that night. They were very lucky."

Margaret worked for her parents' business when she left school alongside her sister Jean, then met her husband John at the Cragburn Dance Hall in the 1950s and wed eight years later.

They settled in a flat in John Street which became their forever home and were blessed with four children, Margaret and three sons, Garry, now 64, John, 61, and Scott, now 52.

Margaret loved gardening and took on a weekend job at Cardwell Garden Centre and would often come home with a car boot full of plants.

Margaret jnr, a mum-of-four who lives in Port Glasgow with her husband Hugh, said: "We used to love weekends together. Dad was a great cook and used to laugh when mum would come home and say, 'guess that's where all the wages went this week!'."

Sadly tragedy was to strike the family when their beloved dad collapsed and died at his work at IBM aged only 49.

Margaret was left on her own to bring up four children, the youngest who was only seven at the time.

But she still had time for the community and was involved in Gourock Garden Party. Margaret was also the first manager of the Barnardo's charity shop in Greenock.

Her daughter said: "She prided herself that it would be run like a normal shop, with good quality clothes."

The community activist found happiness again with widower Jimmy Melville, a fire station officer and slater, after an invite to a dance. It led to a partnership that lasted more than 30 years until Jimmy died in 2011.

Margaret said: "They got engaged but never felt the need to get married. We looked on him like a dad and he was always there for us, all the grandchildren called him grandpa Jim, they absolutely adored him.

"They went on holidays a lot and visited Portugal, Cyprus and Majorca as well as my brothers and their families in England."

Margaret had 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Her daughter said: "She was very proud of her family and loved to be able to tell people of their achievements and she was a Gourockian through and through.

"She loved her town and was very proud of it and only gave up the community council in 2012, when she felt it was getting too much for her."

Margaret and her sister Jean were also very close and her daughter says she will be 'hugely missed' by all her loved ones.

Former councillor Ronnie Ahlfeld said that Margaret had been a great ambassador for Gourock.

He said: "I am very sorry to hear about Margaret's passing. She was a force for good in Gourock."

Margaret's funeral will take place on April 4, at Greenock Crematorium at 1pm, followed by a tea at the Tontine Hotel.