“.. you blink as your lifetime passes In the morning glare of the sun ; Then suddenly it is evening , And your life has scarcely begun . You may search for lost time , but not find it , However close it may seem ; For the past is a vanished country And the present will soon be a dream .”
From ' Time ' by Alison Evans ( 15.7.47 – 13.12.24 )
Alison was a founder member of the choir . Her open smile is an abiding memory .
On the 17th of January , her family held a celebration of her life in Hemel Methodist Church . It was an uplifting and joyous occasion , with musical and spoken contributions from family and friends and a combination of the different faiths of Alison and Martin , Quakerism and Buddhism .
violin and recorder but her passion was for the Northumbrian pipes , a passion which she passed on to Susi .
It is impossible in such a short piece to do more than touch on Alison ' s full and fulfilled life . Someone said of her , ' She really was the most beautiful soul .'
She will be much missed by all those whose lives she touched .
She and Martin , her husband of forty-six years , met at a folk dancing class in Cecil Sharpe House , in 1977 , and married the next year . Children , Thomas and Susi , born in 1979 and 1980 completed the family .
The poem above was discovered after her death and read by Martin . The family were searching through some of her papers looking for a piece of her music they might use for the memorial and found ' Time ' which she had printed out only a couple of months before in October . Susi told me that if it hadn ' t been printed , they probably would have missed it , and it might have been lost forever .
I only knew Alison though DCC so I was overwhelmed when I learnt of the breadth of her talents . She sang , of course , she composed music , she wrote poetry , and she painted delicate watercolour landscapes . She played the
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Sandeels Bay , Isle of Iona ( 1991 )
It is often said that our choir is like a family . People come to us for many reasons . Some after retirement , some after a bereavement , many because our daytime rehearsals suit their lifestyles .
We take our music seriously , but that doesn ' t stop our meetings from being fun . Rufus , our Musical Director , has a fund of anecdotes which often result in gales of laughter ringing round the room .
We give three concerts over the course of a year -the next on May 10th . We give short performances for local groups - the last at Our Lady Queen of All Creation on January 19th .
The choir meets at the Church of the Resurrection in Grovehill , on Tuesdays from 9.45am in term time . There are no auditions , all are welcome . We number over a hundred so you will find there ' s plenty of support .
For further details see : www . dacorumcommunitychoir . org www . facebook . com / dacorumcommunitychoir