The much-loved showing and showjumping reporter and judge Margaret Shaw would have been honoured by her final resting place, in the International Arena at Hickstead.
Margaret, who died in April aged 76, reported on showing and jumping for H&H for over 30 years. She was a familiar and popular face at Hickstead, where her ashes have been laid to rest on the famous turf, a stone’s throw from the place in which she judged the supreme horse at the 2015 Royal International Horse Show (RIHS).
“It’s a very fitting place; she loved it here,” Margaret’s daughter Heather told H&H, adding that even when her mother was unable to go to the All England Jumping Course owing to her mobility issues, the Bunn family that owns it offered anything they could that might enable her to come back.
“Lizzie Bunn has been fantastic.”
A memorial ceremony was held on the Thursday of this year’s show, during which a poem written by Heather was read.
“And now you’re here at one of your favourite places, with so many people who loved you, and friendly faces,” it read. “It’s rather fitting you’re by the members’ lawn, known for being ringside from dusk till dawn. We’re still coming to terms that you’ve left us, now you can fly high for ever, on the wings of Pegasus.”
Heather said a rose called Absolutely Fabulous has been planted at the ringside for her mother.
“She’s still here, it’s lovely,” she said. “She would have loved it, and been honoured.”
Lizzie Bunn told H&H it was a fitting tribute.
“She loved Hickstead and was a huge supporter of showing and showjumping,” she said. “She was honoured to be asked to be one of the judges for the supreme horse championship at the RIHS in 2015, which was one of her proudest moments. Margaret’s daughter Heather chose a rose to plant alongside the members’ terrace, and we all paused to pay respect to a very popular lady who did so much for equestrian sport.”
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