A GIRL Guide and cancer charity volunteer who devoted her life to other people, has died, aged 71.

Maggie James volunteered with the Girl Guides in Bicester for more than 50 years and was honoured by the organisation for her service.

She also volunteered with cancer charity Marie Cure for 20 years until her death on November 30 of pancreatic cancer at the Sobell House Hospice. Her funeral is being held today.

A single woman, she toured the world singing with the Girl Guides, even performing on the White House lawn to US president Barack Obama.

She was also heavily involved in Bicester’s twinning links with Neunkirchen Seel-scheid in Germany.

Her brother Andy said she ‘devoted her life to other people’.

Margaret ‘Maggie’ James was born in London on April 14, 1945 to parents Derek, a chartered surveyor who at the time was serving with the Royal Navy in the Second World War, and Connie, a housewife.

She spent her early years in London and then in Hampshire before the family moved to Old Marston and then settled in Ambrosden in 1954.

The second eldest of six children, Maggie went to schools in Hampshire and Marston before attending Bicester Comprehensive School until she left school at 16.

Her first job was as a hairdresser, which she held for a short time, and then she joined the civil service in the early 1960s, working for the Ministry of Defence based at Bicester.

She would work in procurement for the MoD until she retired in 2005.

She never married or had children but her brother Andy said she was ‘devoted’ to her eight nephews and eight nieces – often driving to Cornwall to offer support whenever needed. After joining as a young girl, she became a leader with her village guiding group Bicester Garrison in Ambrosden in 1965.

Over the years she carried out a large number of different leadership roles within the group and was honoured by Girlguiding Oxfordshire with a commemorative badge in 2015 for her 50 years of service.

She was still making CDs and helping with recordings for the girls days before her death last month.

On top of this she volunteered with the charity Marie Curie helping them to fundraise for 20 years.

Aside from her volunteering heroics, Maggie enjoyed watching rugby and was a keen follower of Oxford United. All are welcome to her funeral today at 2pm at Oxford Crematorium.