ONE of Suffolk's leading guiders is being remembered, after a memorial bench was unveiled in her honour.Friends, relatives and guiders from across Suffolk gathered in Christchurch Park, Ipswich, for the ceremony to honour Maggie Warton.

ONE of Suffolk's leading guiders is being remembered, after a memorial bench was unveiled in her honour.

Friends, relatives and guiders from across Suffolk gathered in Christchurch Park, Ipswich, for the ceremony to honour Maggie Warton.

Mrs Warton was a dedicated member of the guiding movement and was well known across Ipswich for her commitment and enthusiasm to the cause.

In 1948 she was the first girl in Suffolk to gain her Queen's guide badge – the highest honour in guiding, and throughout her life she was a prominent member of the Suffolk guiding scene.

She was PR advisor for Suffolk and also county archivist, and she was heavily involved with the Ipswich gang show, working as wardrobe mistress and then as publicity officer. She died of cancer in November last year aged 71.

The dedication ceremony was carried out by Rev Colin Everett of St Francis Church, Ipswich.

He said: "Maggie was very involved with the church as part of her work with the guides.

"She was a wonderful woman and so dedicated to the cause."

Her daughter, Tricia Walker, who attended the ceremony with her sons Stefan and Nathan, said: "Guiding was her life. She was involved in it right up until two weeks before she died.

"I don't think she ever really realised how popular she was and it's lovely to have so many people at the occasion."