I remember Margaret Mahy coming to a rehearsal and giving all of us glowing encouragement as we sung our hearts out. After the rehearsal she took my script, drew a picture of a lion on the cover and wrote a note for me on it. She was a celebrity to kids and I packed that script away with all the other assorted, treasured bits of paper you collect at school.
Like many others my age I have a stack of well thumbed Mahy books that I now read to my two kids. On hearing the sad news that she passed away earlier this week I hunted through the bits of paper I've managed to hold on to over the years looking for that play script. Sadly, I think it's long gone. But in an old file I did find this clipping below from the Christchurch Press.
These boys can more than likely grow their own beards these days!
RIP Margaret Mahy, & thanks for the memories you're still passing on.
