Margaret Feather was born in Ashbourne, Derbyshire on 30 April 1933, the eldest child of George and Elsie (nee Artless). Her brother Arthur was also born in Ashford whilst her sister Doreen was born in Keighley where the family had moved to where they ran a fish and chip shop. After WW2 they moved to Scarborough and ran the Feathers Hotel in Blenheim Terrace, where there final child, Jennifer was born.
On moving to Scarborough Margaret joined the Scarborough Swimming Club, where she took an interest in long distance swimming. Her early achievements were the Scarborough Castle Foot Swim and the Scarborough to Filey swim; followed in 1949 by the Morecambe Cross Bay Swim, finishing in 4 hours 3 minutes. When she was 17, in 1950, she became the youngest person to attempt a channel crossing, however she failed in achieving it, this was followed by two further failed attempts in 1951 and 1953. However, in 1953 she entered the Nile Swim in Egypt where she won the ladies section of the race.
In 1954 she was selected as part of the Great Britain long distance swimming team to take part in the Butlin’s International Cross Channel Swimming Race. This time she was successful, completing the crossing in 16 hours 23 minutes, coming fourth in the race. It is said that she was the first person to complete the crossing without being covered in animal fat as a protection against the extreme cold, she claimed that as she did her training at Scarborough in the North Sea the water was always cold she did not need the protection. She repeated this achievement again in 1955. Also in 1955 she took part and completed the Capri to Naples swim, becoming the first woman to do so. This achievement lead to her being proclaimed the World Champion Long Distance Swimmer.
Despite her success of becoming the World Champion Long Distance Swimmer it is not that achievement that won her the accolade of a local her. But in 1955 a 16 year old girl had ignored the red flags on the beach at Scarborough and went into the extremely choppy North Sea, an off duty beach patrol man saw that the girl was in difficulty and went to her aid, getting into difficulty himself. Margaret had been alerted to the problem and she went into the sea fully clothed and managed to bring the girl back to the safety of the beach. Sadly the beach patrol man, Tom Walker, wasn’t as lucky and he lost his life. Royal Humane Society Bronze Medals were awarded to Margaret and Tom, with Tom’s widow collecting his award posthumously.
Margaret retired from competitive swimming and concentrated on teaching swimming, moving to Chelmsford where she married Edward Ronald Dixon who had just lost his first wife, leaving him with a small son and daughter. Margaret took on his children and her own daughter to Abdel Moneim Abdou an Egyptian long distance swimmer, increasing the family by a further three daughters before emigrating to Australia in 1965. In Australia she continued running swimming lessons and managed swimming pools. In 2017 Margaret donated her silver Channel swimming trophy to the Town of Scarborough as thanks for supporting her in her swimming career. The trophy was put on display at Scarborough Town Hall.
Sadly, Margaret passed away in an Australian nursing home in March 2022. She had been asked some time before her death what she saw as her greatest achievement, her answer was saving the 16 year old girl from the sea in 1955.
