Pat Williams was the Honorary Concert Secretary of Cumbria Rural Choirs from 1991 until 2004, and she worked indefatigably to attract the best conductors and soloists to impressive concerts in the Sands Centre, often accompanied by the Royal Northern Sinfonia. She had a particularly warm relationship with Sir Philip Ledger, who became our President and conducted on seven occasions, as well as Donald Hunt, Simon Halsey, David Hill and Nigel Perrin. At that time the choirs were drawn from Keswick, Wigton, Longtown, Penrith, Gosforth and Cockermouth, and there could be as many as 200 taking part in classic works such as Bach’s Mass in B minor, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Elgar The Dream of Gerontius, as well as more recent compositions by Walton, Stravinsky and Bernstein.

In addition, as the organist of St Cuthbert’s Church, Lorton, she arranged a number of attractive chamber concerts, including her son James, who played the oboe. However, in later years her hearing deteriorated to the point where she was no longer able to listen to music, and this must have been very frustrating for one who loved it so much. We are so grateful for all her efforts to encourage musical activity, often of a very high standard, in this part of the world.