Entrepreneur pays tribute to his mother

A Northern Ireland entrepreneur has paid tribute to his enterprising mum as ‘the wind beneath his wings’.

Mark McKinney, Managing Director of Coleraine-based ATG Group, said mum, Margaret, who was fondly known as Maggie, helped his business ambitions and been hugely supportive.

Maggie, who for many years ran a successful Portadown antiques shop, Eden Antiques, passed away on December 20, aged 84.

Mark said: “She developed and grew the business from its humble beginnings to a very successful antique and jewellery business, initially with her partner Jim Pierson and later as a sole trader.

“I remember spending many a summer holiday in Scotland while mum was buying antiques and jewellery. Mum was a real wheeler dealer and I learned so much from her in those amazing summers, travelling around Scotland and the North of England, her original home.”

Maggie was born Margaret Titler in March 1936 in Gateshead, which then was part of County Durham. The eldest of four children, Maggie lived through World War II and survived Scarlet Fever.

She moved at the age of 12 to Northern Ireland with her family when her father, Jack, was asked to manage the Powell’s Products’ factory in Portadown. He had worked at the HQ in Gateshead until demobbed from the RAF when the war ended.

Along with her mum, Maggie, and siblings, Nora, Anne and Eddie, moved in 1948 to Windsor Avenue, a house that was built specifically for the firm’s manager..