THE funeral of Dame Margaret Weston took place in Stroud today.

The Oakridge-born Dame of the British Empire and the first female director of a national museum passed away last month aged 94.

On Dame Margaret's final journey she was accompanied - in a style befitting a director of the Science Museum - by a vintage steam engine.

The Burrell 4010 traction engine belongs to the Brown family at Woodchester Timber Yard, where it had started its working life in 1925 and would have been a typical piece of machinery when Margaret was growing up.

The funeral cortege passed the gates of Stroud High School where some of the staff and students were able to acknowledge the passing of their famous 'Old Girl'.

Margaret had gone on to become a chartered electrical engineer before taking a job at the Science Museum in London, where later as director (between 1973 and 1986), one of her many achievements, was the foundation of the National Railway Museum in York, which led to a lifelong passion for steam engines.

She helped set up the Museum in the Park in Stroud in her retirement, after travelling the world as a museum consultant.

A small gathering of friends at Randwick churchyard, close to her home, commemorated her life in a service led by the Revd.Ed Sauven.