Community stalwart Margaret Taylor’s stomach was jumping at the thought of her royal appointment. Margaret, 66, lives in Chilton and was nominated for a Durham County Council chairman’s medal for her work within the local community. The mother of four and grandmother of three set up a community house in the town in 1998 when Chilton was still a village.
Fourteen years later the building is the hub of the community and serves as a first stop shop for everyone’s needs providing coffee mornings, advice sessions and a food co-operative. Area Action Partnership coordinator Lee Copeland, housing provider Livin and members of the local community got together to nominate Margaret for the chairman’s medal and all of the nominees from across the county were invited to Palace Green for Her Majesty’s royal visit.
Margaret’s dedication was further recognised when she was picked out to then take part in the line up to meet Her Majesty and Prince Phillip. Margaret said: “It felt like there was nothing available in 1998 when the project started. All of a sudden we had this facility and it gave us something to aim for, something better for the village and something to get excited about.
“Now we have a community worker on hand to offer advice and a coffee morning which 20 people regularly come to as well as family history sessions and a food co-op. You don’t know who is going to come through the door but we try to help everyone in any way that we can. It was incredible to meet the Queen, certainly not something you do every day. My stomach was jumping, Prince Phillip even said well done for my work within the community!”
