In 1973 Mary Muir-Taylor joined Chigwell golf club, playing every Tuesday with her friends and on Sunday afternoon with her husband, Douglas. The club was to become an important sporting and social focus for Mary’s life, with her family joining her for dinners, lunches and, memorably, New Year’s Eve parties. It was little surprise that Mary was made Ladies Captain in 2002, but the fact that she achieved this honour at the age of 73 - by which age she had become a grandmother for the seventh time - was a tribute to her physical fitness, competitive character, and lifelong tenacity.

              Mary was born in Nelson, Lancashire, on 11th July 1929 to Walter and Hannah Fishwick, and a couple of years later was joined by a sister, Jean. Times were not always easy for the Fishwicks and so after being offered a promotion, Walter relocated his young family to Edinburgh in the late 1930s. When the Second War broke out, Mary was ten years old and doing well at Mary Erskine School where she excelled at science, but also enjoyed games and art (a creative side to her personality that she developed throughout her life). Aged 18 Mary won a place to study nursing at Herriot Watt University, but although completing her course and spending some time on the wards at the Infirmary, she took a degree in Pharmacy. It was while at university that she met Douglas, a student studying ophthalmics, and they married on 20th February 1954. The newlyweds honeymooned in London, before returning to Edinburgh where Mary was working as a pharmacist.

By 1956, Mary had moved to London where Douglas was studying medicine, and in November Jane, their first child was born. The small family lived in Dulwich where in 1962, after Douglas had qualified, a second child named Alastair was born. It was at this time that Willy and Marianne Smith became extremely close friends and the two couples would later enjoy numerous holidays and family gatherings together. The Muir-Taylors moved to Woodford in the mid-1960s when Douglas began working in nearby Wanstead as a GP and Mary was employed one-day a week at Gold’s Pharmacy in Gants Hill. A third child, Catriona, was born in 1967 and the family was complete. Mary and Douglas enjoyed a lively social life, often involving their friends Win and Ken Farmer, including nights out at London’s most fashionable restaurants. In 1970 the family moved to Kelvedon Grange, a large old house with extensive grounds, before moving several years later to Forest Lane in Chigwell.

As her family grew up, Mary enjoyed her golf, gardening, art classes, and even learned to play the piano. Summer holidays were always spent in Ibiza, which they visited for 22 consecutive years, with Mary sunning herself on the beach, Douglas fishing, and the children enjoying the company of other families who soon became firm friends. In the mid-1980s, with Jane continuing her medical studies, Alastair working in the United States, and Catriona at university in London, Mary was plunged into difficult domestic circumstances which eventually saw the break-up of her marriage. During this period, Mary’s children played an important part in ensuring she was looked after. Grandchildren became a welcome distraction, with four born to Alastair and his wife Lisa Ann: Tom, Georgia, Genie, and Sophie, and three to Catriona and her husband Lloyd: Freddie, Charlotte, and Henry. Mary’s family in England, the US, and Scotland, were extremely important during this time and helped by her many friends, she made a new life. Having moved to Loughton, Mary continued to be active, travelling around the world and making visits to her family. A long-time lover of dogs, she also became the owner of an energetic Jack Russell, Issy (who enjoyed taking Mary for a walk).

It was in her eighth decade that Mary moved to Castle Village in Berkhamsted, a retirement village where she lived in her own flat, but also had access to the company she so enjoyed. She became a regular at art classes, ‘Knitters and Natterers’, and music evenings with her friends, and enjoyed hosting dinners in the Village’s ‘Manor House’. Mary travelled often to the United States to visit the US Muir-Taylors, thoroughly enjoyed her trips to the Ise of White to see Jane, her husband Geoff, their cats and dog, Monty, and was close enough to Catriona to support her grandchildren’s events and achievements. Mary was extremely happy in Castle Village, but the Covid pandemic and advancing age meant she became less active, although she still held tea parties in her flat, socialised whenever she could, and was always keen to hear about the progress of her two great grandchildren, Mary Harmon and William, in America. She passed away peacefully on 4th June 2024 aged 94, and will be greatly missed by her family and friends.