Posthumous award for ‘pioneer’ nursery teacher
A‘PIONEER’ of early years teaching who helped a generation of Macclesfield youngsters has been posthumously rewarded for her inspirational work.
Margaret Huntington founded Footprints Day Nursery, which has centres in Macclesfield and Bollington, in 1998.
Aged 62 she was already old enough to retire having had a teaching career both at home and abroad in countries such as Hong Kong and Thailand.
Margaret sadly died in January aged in her 80s but it was this ‘passion and dedication’ that saw her given a lifetime achievement honour at the National NMT Nursery Awards 2018.
Her daughter Claire Huntington, 55, is operations director at Footprints and she accepted the award.
She said: “We are incredibly overwhelmed and proud of the achievement and would like to thank the judges.
“It is really exciting, mum would be absolutely blown away, I can just picture her big smile.
“The Footprints team will continue her dedication and passion for childcare, and we will continue to help make a difference to children’s lives.
“She had a passion for supporting children and giving them the best possible start in life.”
Margaret, who had three children, nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren, began work as a nursery teacher while in her 20s.
After returning from working abroad the family settled at Beech Hall Drive and the first Footprints nursery opened at Cumberland Street, in the town centre.
The second followed at Albert Road, in Bollington, in 2011 and the nursery also created nationally used educational software package LearningBook.
Margaret died of a degenerative lung condition in January but when diagnosed with it had been told she would not survive past her 40s.
Her son James is Footprints’s managing director and two of her grandchildren also work there.
The NMT awards - organised by magazine Nursery Management Today - were at the London Hilton Metropole, hosted by Gethin Jones.
Judges described Margaret by saying: “Margaret was a global early years pioneer. An advocate for striving to ensure all children have the best possible start in life.
“Founding a new nursery business aged 62 years is sheer testament to Margaret’s passion, devotion, dedication and her lifelong legacy.”