A Wonderful Lady - Chapter 10 More Music and Meeting Frank

Frank and Evelyn 1923 I continued my musical studies and gained four certificates at the London College of Music; Primary First Class, Elementary Honours, Intermediate Honours and Senior First Class. For the intermediate exam I gained the highest number of marks and was awarded the local prize "Two Hundred Opera Plots" by Gladys Davidson. Miss Brown was very pleased and also bought me a book called "Little Boy Georgie!. After the Intermediate I gave up lessons as I was about to start work. I was talking to Miss Brown one day and she begged me to go back and take the Senior. I felt I could not afford to do so, but my dear dad came in and said, " You pay for the music and I'll pay for the lessons and exam fees". So I took the Senior and gained a First Class Certificate; that was in 1922 when I was 17 years old.

In 1918 when I was 14 I used to play for the dancing class in East Ham. It was a voluntary arrangement, but all good practice for me. After I began playing for the Men's Meeting, a Mr Fuller asked me to join his orchestra. I was only 14, but one of his daughters Ethel took me under her wing and looked after me. Ethel played the viola and sat next to her brother, Frank, who played the cello. I didn't know it at the time, but Frank was later to become my husband for for over 50 years. Henry Fuller was the conductor of the orchestra and his sons George and Fred, played the double bass and cornet respectively. The first violin was played by his eldest son Walter, and Walter's wife Madge, also played the violin. There were a number of other orchestra members not related to the family, about 25/30 of us eventually. We always played before the Sunday evening service at West Ham Central Mission and gave concerts at various other places, usually churches,starting with an overture accompanied by the congregation singing. I had to accompany the soloists; I was really loved doing that. The soloists were very good, including some professionals and well known names, such as Madame Jessie Strathern, Ben Davis (the Welsh tenor), Ruby Helder (lady tenor(, Katie Daniells, Ruby Cox, Annie Douglas, Hugh Phelps and many others. I was a sight reader and accompanying had always been a pleasure to me. I found it just as important to have a preview of the words as well as the music. You have to know what the soloist is singing about and remember the soloist comes first, however fancy the accompaniment. I enjoyed playing with the orchestra and , when I was seventeen, Frank Fuller asked if he could walk me home and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, marriage, and partnership.