St Margaret’s church has been extremely blessed to have had Stephany in our midst for over two decades.  She contributed so much to our community in her quiet and sensitive way.
I was organist and choir master when Ruairidh joined the choir.
Stephany was one of the most supportive choir parents, and this was the start of Stephany’s faithful attendance at Choral Evensong whenever we had it.
Our annual choir  Shrove Tuesday pancake party soon got transferred to the Murdocks house where Stephany and I cooked and tossed countless pancakes. Actually one year we did count them – 156!
 
Stephany was also a School Governor at St Margaret’s School with me for many years – we were on the Pay and Personnel Committee – I’m still on it – and we greatly miss Stephany and her wise judgements and perceptions as we interviewed potential teachers, teaching assistants and 3 head teachers over the years.
 
Stephany was our Parish administrator for several years too.  The dramas and catastrophes of this post never daunted her – nothing ever  phased her. She worked out solutions straight away.  Together we prepared the Sunday service sheets throughout the year, including one of our interregnums between Rectors – she was so dedicated to her work.
 
Stephany managed to connect church  parents and school parents together by starting us making proper documentation of which parents attended church when – in order  to qualify for a church school place you have to attend St Margaret’s for at least 2 years. And Stephany knew the parents too and therefore was a key member of the School Admissions team.
 
She was an extremely artistic person – drawing, painting, sketching – I’m coming to that later on.
Flower arranging she excelled in.  She organised a fantastic flower Festival in  May 2015 with each church group – Choir, Children’s Church, Darby and Joan, Scouts, Guides, - even the Bell ringers  - and including  the flower arrangers from our local churches  -  doing floral arrangements which we had in church for several days, with many visitors.  We all had to arrange flowers to represent the “Miraculous” !  This was apart from Steph and the team doing arrangements for Sundays and weddings throughout the year.
Then there’s Steph’s cooking.  Just going to a simple lunch with friends at her house meant the most tasty and delicious dishes appeared from Steph’s latest researches into recipes -  she introduced me to  many which are real winners.
She really was a professional chef in her own right.
 
Doing catering for wakes and parties with Amanda, who is doing todays refreshments , meant that the simple sandwich was transformed into something very special – Amanda continues Stephany’s excellence.
 
And then there was the Medieval Banquet in 2015  - the Magna Carta year -  when we turned the church into a Banqueting Hall with a long table down the central aisle.  Stephany had researched the food meticulously and it was a very surprising menu we were served. She didn’t manage to get fresh swan to roast – so we had to make do with a symbolic model one. It was all served to us by a big team of waiters – the church Youth group and the Buckler family to the fore!
 
Finally to come back to Stephany’s artistic talent and capability – this was truly awesome. I think almost everyone present today will have received one of Stephany’s beautiful Christmas cards over the years.
 
What a wonderful one we got last Christmas – Andy put together the cards from 1955 – 2019.  Steph’s design and calligraphy is stunning, plus examples of her watercolours.  This card is one of my most treasured possessions to remind me of our dear, beautiful, gentle Stephany whom we all miss so much now.