Alan and Margaret Dudley
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Alan Dudley died at the age of 87 in the Southern General Hospital on the 7th January after suffering from a fall at home. His wife Margaret died peacefully at Ardcarrach on the 16th January, unaware of Alan’s death. She was 92.
Margaret Hodgson served in Military Intelligence during the Second World War as a member of an inter-service team at RAF Medmenham. She was among the first women trained to interpret aerial photographs to locate V2 rocket launching and manufacturing sites. After the war, she studied singing and acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she met and married a fellow drama student, Alan Dudley. Margaret left the stage when their two sons were born. When they were grown, she volunteered her services to “Calibre”, a charity which provides people who are unable to read print with access to 8,500 talking books. www.calibre.org.uk Margaret kept it up well into her eighties by which time she had recorded more than 50 audio books which continue to bring pleasure to people throughout the country, including some residents of Carradale.
Alan acted in a string of West End musicals. The best known were “The Boy Friend” and “My Fair Lady”, in which he understudied Stanley Holloway. He went on to work with The National Theatre and the BBC Radio Theatre. Television commercials, occasional roles in TV and film productions, including a part in “Chariots of Fire”, brought in tiny royalty cheques throughout his retirement. In his free time, Alan enthusiastically pursued other art forms - sculpture, mobiles, photography, pottery, weaving and playing recorders.
Margaret and Alan moved from England to Carradale in 2000 to live near their son, Eric, and his wife Catharine, “Cathy” Forbes. Alan watched the boats and took photographs. They both loved crossword puzzles and Margaret delighted in her daily walk down Ardcarrach brae to buy her newspaper from Kenneth and exchange greetings with other Oman customers.
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