Former Angus schools head teacher Annabel Margaret Esslemont, 89

Former Angus head teacher Annabel Margaret Esslemont has died at the age of 89.

Known as Margaret, she spent her later years in Crieff, where she was an active member of the Women’s Guild.

Mrs Esslemont was born Annabel Anderson, in Dinnet, Deeside, in 1926 and brought up in Braemar.

Her early schooling was at Braemar and Ballater and then Banchory Academy where she was the school dux in mathematics.

In March 1947, in her last year at Aberdeen University, Margaret, ran a charity dance in Braemar for the student campaign to raise funds for Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

There she met Jim, who she later married in 1954. The couple had three sons, John, Alan and Gordon.

After graduating with an honours degree, Margaret began teaching in the North School Primary in Peterhead before taking a primary school post in Braemar.

In the 1960s she was appointed head teacher of Aldbar Primary School, near Brechin, where she taught all seven classes by herself in a single classroom.

In 1975 she became the head teacher of Careston Primary School.

In 1989 Jim and Margaret retired to Crieff to be nearer John and Gordon, while also spending months on end in the west of Ireland as in-house babysitters in Connemara where Alan and his wife, Mary, were bringing up a young family.

After moving to Crieff, Margaret was a volunteer worker for 10 years at the cancer charity shop.