Liza Connell

To Kew Gardens to serve at requiem for Liza - she was my age. All went well. Fr Stephen gave an amusing and fine homily. He told how she said she screamed top notes and low ones she farted! He also quoted Buddha! He said she sent him CDs for his posting to Iraq for 9 months so reckon he is in the forces. Her cousin Luke Connell served but needed lots of guidance. We heard Panis angelicus recorded by Liza 3 weeks ago - she was so brave! A lovely Ave Maria, superb Samoan funeral song and Meryl Rose sang "May the choirs of angels". Stephen Rose played superbly - she came in to Nimrod and out to "Wish me luck". Great hymns Dear Lord and Father and Thine be the glory. To her lovely home and we drank a champagne toast in sunshine in her lovely garden. A most interesting chat to her cousin about South Africa. The present generation are still in the liberation mode and creating the equivalent of the big companies like Sasol for their pals. It is the next generation who will really change things for the better. Met Tim Conway, Rosemary Cooper and Colin Hartley who all studied at Wits. Colin went to school with me and came on the tube with him and his wife. He is a piano teacher in Deal. Reminiscing and asked about Maurice Sherman. His brother Joseph was professor at Oxford and died aged 65. To M & S for tea and realised I had broken my Lenten alcohol ban with the champagne - oops! Fr Archer at Mass. No organ voluntaries. Had a chat to Peter Stevens and he said Roger Judd was staying overnight. Apparently the first hymn Guide me O thou great redeemer at Robert Tear's memorial service at St Martin's in the Fields was deafening as the church was full of opera singers. The congregation certainly sang today! What a wonderful lady she was and she had a beautiful home with grand piano and all her scores and photos leading out to the garden. What a sad loss. All she said was not "Why me?" but "Why now?"