Dorothy Hunt

Like all the best stories, Dorothy Hunt's life has had it's share of triumphs and tragedies.  The youngest of six children, she was only two years old when her mother died from TB, to be followed a week later by her father.  'Our relatives had to decide what to do' Dorothy explains. 'It looked as though we would have to be split up as there were so many of us. but my mother's sister, who had no children of her own, said no, we should all be kept together, and she took us in. She was a remarkable woman'

Thanks to financial support from the Masons, Dorothy was educated at the Royal Masonic School in Rickmansworth. Her schooling ended unexpectedly tragically, however, when the aunt who had brought her up died suddenly on Dorothy's last day. ' I later discovered that she's said to the head teacher that she felt her life's work was complete now that I'd finished school. I was the baby of the family - the others were all working and had left home. it was terrible losing her and I missed her dreadfully. She was the most important role model in my life.'

Dorothy began work as as a ledger clerk for the Royal Bank of Scotland, where she remained for 10 years until the birth of her daughter. 'Bank work was completely different in those days, of course,' she remembers. 'Everything was done by hand. The closest things we had to computers were the old 'Burroughs' adding machines with pull-down handles. There was a real scramble to use the one electric machine.'

While at the Bank, Dorothy joined the Ladies' choir. She had always loved music, and remembers many happy Sunday evenings at home spent gathered around the piano. 'It was a very relaxed and informal. Anyone who could sing or play an instrument would do so. We also had a wind up gramophone so we could listen to recordings of all the lovely musicals which were popular in those days.' Dorothy went on to sing in lots of concerts and shows including one for which she had to learn to tap dance. She has a lovely collection of photographs of some of her performances, including a picture showing that she could still do the splits at the age of 70!

Residents and friends of Warren Court will probably recognise this idea. Since moving to Farnham Common three and a half years ago, to be nearer her son, who lives in Beaconsfield, Dorothy has organised several musical teas at Warren Court. She also sings with the Adelaide Singers in Windsor, is a regular attender at St John's Church and belongs to the Evergreen Club and the Third Age Luncheon Club, as well as helping to organise outings for fellow Warren Court residents. And all this despite a triple bypass operation six years ago. Although her breathing has been affected by heart problems, Dorothy's attitude is characteristically robust. 'I was basically walking around with a heart attack for several days' she says. ' I thought the pain was just indigestion but I couldn't seem to shift it. In the end I went to the doctor and he said I had to have the operation as a matter of urgency or I'd be dead within a fortnight'

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Clearly not a lady to step away from a challenge, One of Dorothy's most recent achievements is to master modern technology. After having to use computers in her last job, she took the opportunity of replacing her old word processor with a computer when she moved to Warren Court. Learning by trial and error rather than reading instruction manuals. she is now confident to be building her own website 'Memories'. The idea for this came out of helping one of her grand-daughters with a school project about the Blitz and realizing how little today's youngsters know about the lives of ordinary people in the past.

Music remained a vitally important part of her life even after she retired from work at the age of 61. And so, in fact, did work...'I was quite cosy in a retirement flat in Brighton. But I couldn't stand it! In the end I applied for - and got - a secretarial job at the Science Policy Research Unit of the University. When the travelling became a bit much, I got another temporary job, which lasted nine years. I finally stopped work when I was 72. While I was in Brighton I sang with the Brighton and Hove Operatic Society. I still go back and see all their shows and I've recently been made a Vice-President for Life of the Society. I also set up a group called the 'Musical Tea Makers'. We used to meet in an old hotel, but when it closed we formed a club for anyone who enjoyed informal, unrehearsed singing and music making,'

Now 82, Dorothy Hunt is a terrific advert for having a positive attitude. ' I do believe you have to work at life' she told me. 'We all have our aches and pains, but you just have to keep going.' The last remaining member of her generation of siblings, Dorothy stays in close touch with her son and daughter, her ten grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, with another on the way. In one of those strange quirks that life sometimes throws up, when she was younger Dorothy apparently looked and sang like the biological mother she lost before she was old enough to really know. Not long ago, she saw one of her grand-daughters singing -'and you know what? She looked and sounded just like me' I'm sure it's just a strong musical heritage that Dorothy has passed onto the younger generation.

Caroline Masom