Marguerite Hunter Blair is Chief Executive of Play Scotland the national play organisation (since 2006). A leading figure championing the child’s right to play, she was previously CEO of PlayBoard Northern Ireland, after a career in community development with Belfast City Council.

Talking about play when she was growing up, Marguertite said, “We lived near an old Mill and our play centred around the river, the tail race and the lade. Some of our rope swings over the river were dangerous (and removed by the adults) but we also loved catching baggy minnows, picking and pressing the wild flowers and roaming for miles on foot in all seasons, endlessly collecting things like conkers and cones for spraying!”