Charity’s new flower a tribute to Margie
A charity has paid a poignant tribute to a popular member of staff who died of coronavirus by naming a new flower after her.
Grandmother Margaret “Margie” Blyth, who served the Sunderland-founded North East Autism Society for 18 years, passed away from the virus in Sunderland Royal Infirmary in April at the age of 66.
Now a newly-cultivated geranium, grown at a County Durham farm run as a training centre by the charity, has been named Margie Blyth in the mother-of-two’s honour.
The main plant is to be given to Margie’s family and 11 cuttings will have pride of place in the various locations where she worked.
Margie’s son, Jon, said: “The family are really touched.
“It’s a beautiful tribute and it means her memory will be around forever.
“She loved flowers and would have loved to know this had happened.”
The orange and pink geranium was cultivated at New Warlands Farm, at Burnhope, one of the places Margie worked.
Farm programme manager Ian Patterson said: “Because it’s a new species, it didn’t have a name, so we asked the family if it could be called the Margie Blyth and they loved the idea.
“It’s a really lovely flower and we all thought it was a nice way to remember her.
“She worked in a lot of places run by the society, so there’ll now be a cutting sent to all of them.
“She was such a great character.
“If you asked her to do something, she just got on and did it.
“She’s a big miss for everyone.”
Society chief executive John Phillipson said “it’s a beautiful tribute to a very special person” and added: “Whenever people see the flower, they’ll be reminded of Margie for years to come.”
Margie, a member of the society’s domestic staff who lived in the Millfield area of Sunderland and was married to Peter, was known as “mum” to staff and serviceusers at her main base at the city’s Emsworth centre for adult day care services.
Her funeral was held at Sunderland Crematorium with a celebration of her life is to be held after the lockdown.
The family hope to give those attending packets of Margie Blyth seeds.