Force of nature with a Medal from the Queen
ADOWN-TO-EARTH TRAILBLAZERWITHA PASSIONFORVINTAGE MOTORS,RESTORING RAILWAYSANDNEW TECHNOLOGY, THE INIMITABLE MAGGIE WILLBEMUCHMISSED
NO one whose life was touched in some way by Maggie Shapland could fail to recognise she was a remarkable woman.
Her family, friends, those who shared her many interests and passions, and the thousands of students she taught at University of Bristol and the Open University all knew it very well.
They had first-hand experience, and the anecdotes that went with it told of Maggie’s pioneering spirit, her tremendous determination and force of nature character, and the downto-earth warmth with which she treated everyone.
Born in Derby, Maggie was the middle of three children – between Michael and Clare – to Mary and Jack Fletcher. Jack was a railwayman who, during the Second World War, went to India with the Royal Engineers to work on the railway network there.
This was Maggie’s first strong family connection to engineering, one which continued throughout her own life.
Following Jack’s work, the family moved to Skipton, York and finally to Bristol where they acquired their first car, a Triumph, and Maggie’s mother became a keen dedicated driver – maybe the moment when Maggie’s love of cars began.
Maggie and her sister Clare shared a bedroom growing up and Maggie, with a keen mathematician’s mind, enjoyed playing cards for matchsticks on a table between their beds.
As a young woman she was a talented athlete, taking part in AAA competitions at school and was a very good sprinter, remaining fit throughout her life.
She was regarded as a tomboy, and continued to break the mould when she went on to study for a maths and computing degree at Bristol CAT (College of Advanced Technology). Her all-girls secondary school was concerned that a CAT would not be ladylike!
Of 64 students who began the course, then one of the first computing degrees anywhere in the country, only five completed it, including Maggie.
As part of her studies, Maggie spent six months at Rowntree in York, doing data analysis on chocolate bars. Which meant she had free run of the factory to get lots of samples and Clare remembers her often returning home with a handbag full of After Eight mints!
RESEARCH
Maggie started work at Plessey telecommunications in Ilford in the research department and, after marrying first husband Don, they moved to Bristol in 1972 where Maggie became an advisory programmer at Bristol University computer centre.
A reference to her new employer noted: “Mrs Shapland has a somewhat nominal adherence to contemporary female fashion. Initially she gives the impression being somewhat brusque but she is well-liked, she is well-read and possesses a good deal of common sense. She is not afraid of expressing her own views.”
Maggie enjoyed a long and successful career at Bristol
University, remaining there until her retirement.
Her work paralleled the evolution of computing in the 20th and 21st centuries, from witnessing the first computer viruses, to the birth of the worldwide web and the creation of Bristol University’s first web page.
Maggie and husband Don had two sons, Andrew and Michael, who remember her as a caring, strong and unique influence on their lives.
“When I think back, I have this overwhelming sense of comfort, security and love from my childhood,” says younger son Michael.
By then, Maggie had developed an abiding passion for cars which meant the school run, in her vintage Talbot, was rarely dull.
“The things I took for granted growing up – going to work in computers, her interest in cars, her refusal to wear dresses or eat vegetables – I now realise were important lessons in nonconformity,” says Andrew.
Maggie was awarded the Bristol Lord Mayor’s Medal in 2017
Maggie’s love for vintage motors found its natural home at the then derelict Rocks Garage, where she pitched in with restoration work, even after breaking her wrist and jaw while falling off the roof!
She regularly went on rallies to France and Europe, carrying spare parts for anything that might break, always confident to repair them herself.
She devoted herself too to preserving Bristol’s industrial and cultural past, fiercely opposing planning applications that threatened it and helping to save many historical buildings from inappropriate development.
In Clifton she was known as the Queen of Lampposts having successfully championed the cast iron Victorian originals.
Maggie received a British Empire Medal from the Queen in 2013 in recognition of her work to preserve the history and heritage of Clifton, and was awarded the Bristol Lord Mayor’s Medal in 2017. Industrial
Maggie regularly went on rallies to France and Europe archeology in particular was a love she shared with her husband Mike. They met 20 years ago at a series of lectures on the subject and their friendship developed into a deep and loving relationship.
Married four years ago, Mike was by her side on countless adventures with vintage cars, as well as visits to Pompeii and Herculaneum, to China and the Terracotta Warriors.
“We always had a very full calendar and we packed so much into a short time,” says Mike. “We spent 15 years working together at the Rocks Railway and took over 30,000 visitors on tours there.”
When Maggie was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she was given just months to live. But, with trademark indomitability, she told doctors she couldn’t die – she had a book to write.
That book, on Clifton Rocks Railway, was completed with Mike’s help in what he describes as an exceptional effort.
Maggie was with Mike when she passed away at home.
“She was an incredible woman who achieved so much in her life,” he says. “It was an absolute privilege to be a part of Maggie’s amazing story.”
In Clifton she was known as the Queen of Lampposts having successfully championed the cast iron Victorian originals