To sit at the piano and play without anyone being able to know whether I had made a mistake in the notes or timing fulfilled a life-long dream for me; and it amazes me even now that the path to this special pleasure only stood revealed when, with my grandchildren about to leave school, I suddenly started writing songs.

This transformation in my life was a long time coming, though it was not unheralded. Perhaps the process began when my father tucked his violin under his chin to play for me. I knew it had travelled with him during the Great War, and felt moved to realise its music provided an escape from the horrors of mud, and the deaths of wonderful friends - including his beloved horses.

My piano lessons started at the age of six. My aunts and uncles all sang and played musical instruments, as was the way in Edwardian times. My cousin Delia was hitting the local headlines as a gifted pianist. She was also a brilliant mathematician, and later, in that hotbed of experimentation that was the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, she became a ‘wizard of sound’ with work on the Dr. Who theme memorable from the 1960s.

The path I travel is less technical. Songs come to be through my eyes, when I see, then feel, something that moves me. The melody and lyric arrive together, a sort of song/poem. I sing them in my ‘not to be heard’ voice, and make weird notes on any available scrap of paper. If this can’t be done quickly enough and the moment passes without my special heiroglyphics the inspiration floats away, as thought passing on the wind never to return! So creation is tinged with sadness at the evanescence of beauty, a quality of Japanese aesthetics I have always admired!

Whatever the source of my inspiration, the results could not have been accomplished without the help and encouragement of Neil Crossland since his days at the Royal College of Music, whom I thank sincerely; nor could my spirit have kept burning without my dearest husband Jack, family and friends whose devotion and enthusiastic praise has fed my love of music, nor could the performances have taken wing without those dear singers, instrumentalists and Tim. All these people have helped me realise ‘my wildest dream’.

Samples of the songs on my album `An Englishwomen's Songs' are available to download from my website.