SARUM U3A

The speaker at the October Coffee Morning was Dr Christopher Fifield, a music historian, and his subject 'The Life and Voice of Kathleen Ferrier, England's greatest lyric contralto'. The talk was interspersed with recordings of her best loved songs.

Born in Higher Walton, Lancs, in 1912, Kathleen played the piano at an early age. She entered local musical festivals, winning regularly. At Blackburn High School she gained a RAM diploma and also took singing lessons.

Leaving school at 14, she joined the Post Office and married young. Her husband encouraged her to sing again. She sang in concerts around N.W. England and accompanied others on the piano. She came to the notice of conductor Malcolm Sargent and in 1942 he referred her to an agent in London. She moved South.

Kathleen joined an organisation CEMA, which put on concerts all over the country during the war years. In March 1943 she was singing in 'The Messiah' at Westminster Abbey and afterwards was approached by composer Benjamin Britten who invited her to join the company staging his new opera, 'The Rape of Lucretia' at Glyndebourne. At this time she sang frequently on the radio and between 1948-50 she spent time in the USA. A year later she was diagnosed with cancer.

Between spells in hospital she continued to perform in this country and on the continent, giving her last performance at Manchester in 1952 in the presence of the Queen Mother. She died the following year aged forty one.