Margaret Barron

Margaret was born and brought up in Inverness but did not really develop an interest in plants until later in life. At school she had to write natural notes and press flowers, but Margaret was more interested in watching birds and playing games. She went on to study a Bachelor of Commerce in Edinburgh. Her interview for a post with Legal and General in London took place in a car, her future employer being on a fishing holiday in the Highlands!

After a year she returned to Inverness to get married. Walking the dogs on the outskirts of town one day, she encountered some elderly ladies staring into a ditch. She enquired if they had lost something only to be told they were looking at an interesting moss. They went on to tell her about an exhibition of plants in the museum. Curious, she dropped in to view it and was handed a leaflet about the Inverness Botany Group.

The Botany Group had been formed in 1956 amonst the founder members being Helen Caldwell, James MacGeoch and Bob Wright, botany teacher at Inverness Academy. Having quite a few members in common, it was intended to alternate evening meetings in the Academy with the Inverness Bird Group of which James MacGeoch was secretary. Margaret attended several lectures but her first summer outing was on mosses. ‘I was almost put off. The group visited Reelig Glen but spent most of the time staring intently at the fork of an old tree! I am more interested in flowering plants, though I do have a fondness of sedges – or ‘little brown jobs’ as some people call them.’