Dear Paul,

We heard the news of Diane's death with great sadness. We feel with you, with Oliver and Charlotte and the grandchildren, your deep sense of loss and the irrevocable change in your lives. And yet, how strongly her presence lives in our memory!

I am deeply grateful to have known and loved her in those distant days in the Madrigal Singers, the Chapelle de Minimes, the G. and S., singing together and sharing countless moments of delight and amusement. She was the most generous person imaginable - generous with her marvellous voice, with her openness and understanding for others, with her time and her amused tolerance for the peculiarities and foibles of the human company around.

I am thinking of many evenings with friends, making music, or planning and talking in a convivial round, sharing in fits of laughter about a comical moment. Do you remember the excursion to that strange castle on a rock when we stalked through a dark and muddy forest with our finery and Joz, our conductor, nearly burned his beard on the candles? Or Vic Nees' 1936-2003 (Weak Knees!) composition of "each twiglet is a bobkin..." - How we laughed! And yet, there were many moments of great delight when we made music together. She was always a deeply committed professional about it.

The trail we leave in the web of the world, though often quite unknown, remains indelible; Diane had a deep effect on many lives, from her family to many friends, her audience, in her teaching and advice. May the pain of the loss of her physical presence give way to the memory of her rich and wonderful personality.

In friendship and love,

Yours

Swana and Michael