Remembering Anne McGough - A Gifted Artist, Creative Chair and Great Friend
Anne (closest to the camera), looking at the CPW icon at Hyning last year. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
I first met Anne in the summer of 1976, It was a record-breaking warm summer, some of us will recall, and the CPW elders of the time had decided to provide a Youth Week at an outdoor pursuits centre at Dolawen in Wales. Anne, as a responsible young adult, had been ‘volunteered’ as the organiser.
It was such a very long time ago that many of the details are hazy now, but I remember Anne clearly. Many years later she told me she had been a reluctant volunteer, as the thought of a residential week with a crowd of ‘teens’ filled her with apprehension. At the time, no-one would have known. She managed to combine a positive cheerful attitude with a no-nonsense approach which made her not only a trusted ‘grown-up,’ but also someone you learned quickly not to mess with. She didn’t suffer fools gladly!
After that, our paths crossed occasionally at CPW weekends at Spode. In the Autumn of 1979 my mother proudly showed Anne the album from my wedding two months earlier. She found it difficult to reconcile the bride in the photographs with the scruffy inept hiker of 3 years previously - and said so!
It would be some years before our paths crossed again as Anne preferred the 18+ CPW events whilst I was plunged into family life and the all-age weeks; but I would see her name in the brochure as Chair of many successful events, and read the appreciative reviews of the input she delivered. We also met at National Justice & Peace Network events where Anne was deeply involved with numerous projects, but always had time to help CPW.
Many of you will have admired her handiwork in the exquisitely drawn covers for the CPW newsletter which she provided for more years than I can recall. At the Hyning summer week in 2019, she and I spoke about the artwork for these as there was an idea to publish them in some form for our 75th Anniversary. Anne was happy for someone to come and photograph them, but reluctant to allow the originals to go as they were fragile. We had planned to discuss the logistics for this when we would have met this Spring.
The last time I saw Anne was at Frances Brown’s funeral. There were so many old CPW friends there, gathered to say farewell. We had no idea then that within a very short time such a gathering would be impossible. Perhaps, though, we can be grateful to have had that day. And I don’t think either Anne or Frances would have objected if we could expand the day, in our memories, to include all our lost CPW friends during this period of separation.
In Anne, we have lost a wonderful talent, a gifted artist and a creative chair, but most of all, we have lost a great friend. Rest in peace Anne, until the choirs of Angels come to greet you.
Anne Dixon