Graduates return to mark anniversary

QUEEN Margaret University will mark the start of its 135th anniversary year with a reunion which will bring together graduates from all over the UK.

Established by two pioneering women, Christian Guthrie Wright and Louisa Stevenson, The Edinburgh School of Cookery – the forerunner to QMU – was created to provide better education and improved career opportunities for women, and to bring about an improvement in diets, particularly those of working-class families.

The reunion will bring together graduates from the 1940s, 50s and 60s and 70s, many of whom used the skills they learned at QMU to build successful careers in the food and drink industry.

The reunion coincides with the Scottish Government's year-long focus on food and drink.

Rosalyn Marshall, vice-principal of QMU, said: "Although the institution has gone through enormous changes over the years, it's important to reflect on its history and achievements and continue to develop our work in the same spirit, focus and values with which we started.

"Many of the graduates who will attend our reunion have made a considerable contribution to society."

The reunion is on 26 June at the Musselburgh campus.