MARGARET Koppens long ago took it on herself to quietly save local history from being forgotten.

Today, she is on the committee of the Friends of Smithills Hall and is the long-time secretary of Halliwell Local History Society – the large local group which covers the wider history of Bolton and is custodian to hundreds of artefacts.

Margaret herself, now 77, has a past steeped in the town’s history and traditions. She was born in Halliwell, an only child, and her father worked in the mills from being a 12 year-old on “part time” at school.

He was what they called “a little piecer” – a child who had to lean over the huge spinning machines to repair the broken threads. He became a spinner, than an underlooker then an overlooker and finally mill manager at the Sir John Holden Mill in Leigh.

Margaret’s own earliest memory is also a little piece of local history: visiting the old Townley’s Hospital (formerly the Fishpool workhouse and now the Royal Bolton Hospital) in the early 1940s “and a door opened to reveal long rows of beds with red blankets on them.”

Her interest in history also started early. She attended first Brownlow Fold Primary School and then Wolfenden Girls Secondary School. She left school at 15 and went to work as a junior in a Mawdsley Street solicitors, then moved on to a funeral directors.

She married at 20 and the couple set up home in Longford Avenue, off Ivy Road. Daughter Debra came along in 1963 then Jane in 1969. Margaret returned to part-time working at the much-loved Nevada Skating Rink where she did everything from sorting out skates to working in the cloakroom. When they found out she had administrative skills, she also worked in the office.

She left to work in a builder’s merchants office in Bark Street and then went to another builder’s merchants, EBM, from where she retired in 2000.

Always fascinated by local history, she first went along to a Halliwell Local History Society meeting in 1987 and soon found herself involved in organising. She especially became involved in the production of the group’s bi-monthly magazine, ironically called “The Little Piecer.” The magazine is still popular with people over a wide area today.

As it grew in popularity, the society moved from its Halliwell Library base to Chorley Old Road Congregational Church then to Chorley Old Road Methodist Church and then to St Luke’s Church where it is still based. In 2017, it has around 100 members with 50 to 70 turning up regularly for the monthly meetings.

Margaret became secretary in 1990 but in 1989 had joined other members in creating the Friends of Smithills Hall. By then, the Hall had ceased to be a centre for people with learning difficulties but needed plenty of renovation and TLC to become a visitor attraction.

The Friends started working with the Trust that oversaw it, organising tours and raising money for improvements. “It’s a wonderful building and it deserves to be appreciated,” added Margaret.

In 2006, the local history society was given a room at Smithills Hall to house its collections and it now has many hundreds of old photos, maps and artefacts of all kinds chronicling local life over decades and over centuries..

“People moving house - or where someone has died - have donated so many items over the years,” explained Margaret. “We’re always glad to have them and it’s particularly helpful if people put dates on photos.”

Over the years, Margaret has become an expert in various areas of local history. Through the society, she regularly deals with queries – “especially from people trying to trace their family tree” – and her organisational and detective skills mean she often unearths information for them. “I like ferreting out information,” she laughed.

She was given an award for her work at the Inspirational Women of Bolton Awards earlier this year and also took part in Melvyn Bragg’s popular TV series The Reel History of Britain.

She takes pride in the society’s contributions to local history books and is also very proud of her town’s history. She believes it’s vital “to protect our history, to keep it going” and works tirelessly to do just that.

Ask Margaret anything about an event in an area or a famous local person and she quickly goes into historian mode. A look comes over her face, and she will announce “Just a minute. We’ve got something here about that” - and another little known but really important part of Bolton’s history will emerge, courtesy of the Local History Lady.