Lauriston Park resident Helen Lloyd provided one of the star turns at the St Andrews Parish gala on Monday when she came out of semi-retirement to play the organ inside the Cambridge church.
A steady crowd visited the gala which, to organisers’ delight, missed the foul weather of the previous two days.
The 82-year-old, who moved to Cambridge 56 years ago, has played the organ in the church since the 1990s when Des Robinson “roped her in” because all the organists wanted to have Christmas off.
She was then in the choir, and he told her she would have no trouble playing the organ. “Don’t use the pedals,” he said, and she has never looked back.
Helen finished her set with the 1977 Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley hit If I Had Words, taken from the main theme of the maestoso section of Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No.3 in C minor (Symphony with organ).
“All of a sudden this comes bellowing forward, it just makes you leap out of your seat. I love it, it’s beautiful.”
Helen Lloyd in full flight playing If I Had Words inside St Andrew’s Church. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
