Tributes to former Queen Mary School head renowned for her "superb drive and determination"

Tribute has been paid to Margaret Ritchie, who served as head of the former Queen Mary School at St Annes, following her death at 88.

Miss Ritchie had suffered seriously declining health in recent years and died at the Delaheys Nursing Care Home on Clifton Drive South, close to the school’s former site.

A qualified physicist, she became head of Queen Mary School in 1981 and led the school, which was founded in 1930, until her retirement in 1998, just prior to its amalgamation with the adjacent King Edward VII School.

Both schools were governed by the Lytham Schools Foundation and shared a 40-acre site bounded by Clifton Drive South and the Inner Promenade, close to Fairhaven Lake.

KEQMS subsequently merged with Arnold School to form the present AKS Lytham.

The Queen Mary School flag will fly at half-mast at AKS in honour of Margaret Ritchie on the day of the funeral.

Julian Wilde, former head of King Edward VII School and first Principal of the newly-amalgamated KEQMS who worked with Margaret Ritchie in the 1990s, said: "Margaret Ritchie always set the highest of standards for her staff and students and wanted every girl to have the maximum opportunities in life after leaving Queen Mary School.

“I admired and respected her superb drive and determination."

Miss Ritchie’s funeral will be at St. George’s United Reformed Church, adjacent to Ashton Gardens in St Annes, on Friday, September 11 at 11.15 am, followed by cremation at Lytham Crematorium at 12.15pm.

Refreshments following the services will be at The Water’s Edge, on Heyhouses Lane, St Annes.

Donations in her memory can be sent for the RSPCA c/o Horsfield and Family funeral directors, St Annes (tel 01253 781011).