Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
She was the Chairman of the National Federation of Women's Institutes.
On the island
Eight records
Well, thinking of family, the first one that I'd like to hear is a sentimental mother. is Thank Heaven for Little Girls from Gigi, sung by Maurice Chevalier.
Well, my second record is a reminder of my uh university days at Southampton. Every year we had what was called a rag week, where the money raised by various different means went to different charities and one of the uh things that I enjoyed very much was taking part in an old time music hall, which always happened at the end of Southampton Pier.
The Hebrides, Op. 26 (Fingal's Cave)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent
I think I'd like to be reminded of Pingle's Cave, because we had the most wonderful holiday many years ago now, up the west coast to Scotland. And um it was a beautiful day with a lovely cool wind, and we went in a little boat and looked at Fingal's Cave, and I'd like this music to remind me of that day.
Tyrolean Knappendanz
One of the best holidays that we used to have uh was a skiing holiday in Austria. And I would very much like to be reminded of some of those very happy, unsophisticated evenings that we had after a busy day skiing, very exhausted, and I'd like to hear some Austrian folk music, particularly the um Nappen dance, which is, you know, the one where you hit your bottom and your leather hosen very hard and make a lovely noise.
Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331
When my daughter was about seven we went and we were very lucky to be able to go to the Salzburg Festival, and this was the most moving and wonderful experience for us all. And one of the greatest things that I shall always remember is sitting in Mozart's house, in the very room where he himself had given a concert, and listening to the piano sonata, No. eleven.
English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Norman Del Mar
We are very lucky in at Norfolk to have a lot of musical festivals, and indeed we have a lot of musical festivals in the whole of East Anglia. And I shall always remember the first time I heard and saw Britain's Noise Flood in Orford Church. The wonderful way in which the children sang and moved and joined in will always be in my memory.
Italian Concerto in F major, BWV 971
Just for pure pleasure, because I like it. I would like to have with me the Italian concerto, Bach.
FinlandiaFavourite
Hallé Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli
When we have the conferences in different parts of the world, we always have what I find the most moothing thing at the end of a conference called the interfaith service. Here we have a mixture of Christians, Moslems, Buddhists, Jews, and we always sing to the tune of Finlandia by Sibelius, the most moving final hymn. and I would like to have this with me on my desert island, to give me pleasure because the music is so lovely. and to remind me of my many friends throughout the world that I have made by being a WI member.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:07When you were a schoolgirl, what did you want to be?
I would like to have been clever enough to have been a doctor, because my father was a doctor. Sadly I was not very good at maths and Latin, and so decided towards the end of my school life that I would like to try and be a social worker.
Presenter asks
6:25When did the Women's Institute come into your life?
It came into my life when I moved out to live in Barford and Ramplingham, my home village, in about nineteen fifty nine. And um I was busily scraping the beams in my new home when some one asked if I'd go down and join the Institute. and as I knew no one in the village I thought this would be a very good way of meeting people and making friends.
Presenter asks
7:25How many branches does the Women's Institute have?
Throughout England and Wales and the Channel Islands and in the Isle of Man we have about nine thousand three hundred odd institutes.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
Kenneth Clark
It would remind me of all the lovely places I had visited over the years.
The luxury
a selection of my herbs from the garden
I'd like to take, if I may, a selection of my herbs from the garden. They'd give me something to do, they'd put some taste into my food, they'd help me if I was ill, and they'd give me a lovely scent at night.
Whose idea was [the Women's Institute]?
The idea originally came over from Canada. There was a Mrs Hoodless there, who sadly lost her baby, and indeed another child, because she didn't understand about proper nutrition and care of children. And she got a group of women together, and together they learnt how to look after their families.
Presenter asks
22:05Why was [Jerusalem] chosen as the WI anthem?
Many years ago, when the movement first started, they wanted to have some form of song that you could sing together at the beginning of a meeting, and um a competition was held. And really there were so many peculiar uh songs sent in, the final straw being when Lady Denman opened an envelope and read in front of her, We Are an Ernest Band of Women that um she decided that it would be very much better to have a a well known song, and they selected Jerusalem, because it is very rousing, you know, when you hear it sung well.
“I didn't realise until I was beginning to look at these records that music really did mean very much in my life, but I realized, looking back, that um most things that have happened to me in some way have got some sort of musical connection.”
“I thought now at last I'm in to make friends, and I go down and find that they were all going to close, and you know what it's like when you open your mouth and say something. I said, Oh, dear, what a pity Can't we try a little longer? and um promptly found myself made their new en sec.”
“Oh, never I I could not bear the thought of having to trust myself in the boat that I'd made myself, and I'd rather keep my feet very firmly on the ground and trust that my family would miss me after a little while and come and look for me.”