My father (a headmaster) taught me to read music using the recorder as soon as I could read English! Music always featured during my childhood, learning piano, cello and singing. As a mother of 3 children, encouraging them to learn a musical instrument was paramount and with my 3rd child we went through a Suzuki violin training together, which inevitably involved my learning the violin, much later in life - I was astounded that I could still make progress!

A few years ago, I was introduced to OHMI and in particular, their music-makers programme. For over 25 years, I have had the privilege of working as a consultant surgeon specialising in children with upper limb differences and therefore was able to interpret some of the difficulties these children needed to overcome when learning musical instruments. So, I was delighted to be invited to join the OHMI trustees at an exciting time in their development where many opportunities to support the removal of barriers to music making for the physically disabled are being explored – where else could I bring together the 2 main passions of my life?