Still loving life at 75: Former Miss Scotland Margaret Murray has no plans to slow down

IN the summer of 1959, 17-year-old Margaret Murray was having the time of her life.

The petite blonde from Clydebank, Glasgow, was earning good money working for Littlewoods Pools, kept up with the latest fashions and loved dancing and hanging out with her pals at the city’s hip coffee bars.

Margaret was about to hit the big time by winning the coveted Miss Scotland 1959 – wearing a pale blue and white swimsuit that her mother had sat up all night altering.

And at the age of 75, Margaret has has had her ups and downs. She’s battled skin cancer many times, suffered depression and a breakdown, and took time out to heal when the one and only love of her life, her husband Matt, died in 2002.

But Margaret is now popping up on our television screens as an extra in River City, Shetland and the medical drama Trust Me.

The mum-of-two laughed: “I love it. I never know what’s coming next.

“I have four grandchildren and my second great grandchild is due in July. I love them all to pieces. They help keep me young.

“I’m not in this for the money. I’m in it for the challenge and the fun I have trying new things.” Margaret remembers the night she won the “Miss Scotland” title in an event at Glasgow’s Locarno Ballroom.

She said: “It was the girls I worked with at Littlewoods Pools who persuaded me to enter for a laugh.

“My mother took apart a white swimsuit that I was to wear, removed the seams, inserted pale blue panels, sewed it back up again with sequins. It looked gorgeous.

“It was a much more innocent time. There were beauty competitions all over the place, in seaside resorts, dancehalls, nightclubs – but that was before everything became corporate and licensed.

“Today it’s a billion pound industry, Then it was just a bit of fun. You just put your name down.”

“My prize money was £100 (£1627 in today’s money) which was a lot in those days. I’d never been abroad so my friend and I went to Spain for a holiday.

“At lunchtime, the beach would empty and I’d be the only one there, slicking on the oil and frying myself. I didn’t know about siestas, or the dangers of skin cancer.

“But I got badly burned, and 30 years later had my first diagnosis of skin cancer.

“Since then I’ve had lots of lumps and bumps removed and I go for regular screenings. There is no doubt that the NHS has saved my life over and over again.”

Margaret’s second trip abroad was to a beauty pageant in New York later that year.

She said: “It was so glamorous and I love all that. I bought an evening dress from Wallis which was a ballerina gown in yellow tulle and I had a butterfly clasp in my hair.

“I got into the final 10 and I was so happy.”

She was also coming home to her new boyfriend, Matt Rankin, who was also just 17.

Margaret said: “We fell deeply in love, and got married when we were just 19.

“When our children Mark, now 48, and Saffron, 42, arrived I gave up work to stay home.

“But when Matt died I thought I’d never recover.

“He had skin cancer, then I was diagnosed with skin cancer and I found myself in a dark place.

“With help, I recovered but no-one should ever underestimate mental illness.”

With that kind of strength and beauty, it’s no surprise that this fabulous great-granny has no plans to slow down!