ELIZABETH SALMON, who died suddenly on January 11, aged 83, was a professional mezzo-soprano who enjoyed a successful career in London before settling in Henley in 1955 with her doctor husband, Anthony Salmon.

For 56 years she played an active part in Henley life as a musician, doctor’s wife, mother, supporter of Henley events and charity fund-raiser.

Liz was very much an inhabitant of the Thames Valley.

Born Elizabeth Humphries in Twickenham on June 10, 1928, the only daughter of Will and Addie Humphries, she was brought up with London on her doorstep, a connection that she retained and cherished for her entire life.

She attended Twickenham County School and remembered, as a schoolgirl, life as a wartime Londoner, sleeping under the stairs during the 1940-41 air raids, the return of the Dunkirk fleet and many other vivid experiences.

At first it looked as though art would be Liz’s career choice as she attended the art college in Twickenham and considered entering her father’s business, which created the huge hand-painted advertisements in such prominent places as Trafalgar Square and Waterloo Bridge.

However, her natural ability with singing took over. Winning awards and cups at competitions and eisteddfods, she sang with the Royal Choral Society and the Alexandra Choir in works such as The Dream Of Gerontius and Belshazzar’s Feast, touring Holland in 1946-47.

She was in the choir under Sir Malcolm Sargent at the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in London in 1948.

With these early successes, Liz was advised that she should train formally as a singer and so in 1950 she entered the Royal Academy of Music to study with Norman Allin, a fine bass well-known for his many operatic roles such as Sarastro in The Magic Flute.

At the academy she became the president of the student association as well as undertaking recording sessions, providing the accompanying tracks for commercial and pop recordings.

A busy freelance career developed while she was still a student, leading to her recruitment to the cast of Guys And Dolls. The show opened in June 1953 at the London Coliseum and there were eight performances a week for the next 12 months.

In the same year Liz graduated from the academy with her Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music diploma.

In the following year, as a member the highly successful Peter Knight Singers, she made recordings and backed many of the then pop icons with regular engagements on Sunday Night At The Palladium. She was the singer on the first Goons recording with Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan, I Remember My September Love, and was credited on the sleeve with the spoof name Miss Freda Thing.

Liz worked a lot for the composer and arranger Wally Stott and the American choir director Norman Luboff, making solo recordings of shows such as My Fair Lady, Cinderella, Free As Air and many more.

Classical music was not neglected and after forming her own chamber group she toured with a programme of 18th century and contemporary music. She appeared as soloist in oratorios and the Bach Passions and as Marenka in The Bartered Bride and took the title role in Dido And Aeneas.

All this needed a fine voice, excellent technique and quick and accurate sight-reading, skills, all of which Liz had in abundance.

Liz and Tony were married in 1953 at St Peter’s Church in Staines by the River Thames.

The bride was greeted at the church by the swan-uppers on their annual survey of swans, who gave her a standing ovation from the river as she arrived, dressed in a wedding gown she had made herself and cut out on the floor of her dressing room at the Coliseum.

Tony and Liz moved to Bermondsey while he was working at Guy’s Hospital and she pursued her singing career. The Evening Standard carried an article with the headline “Guy from Guy’s marries doll from Guys And Dolls”.

In 1955, the couple came to Henley, where Tony was a trainee at the Hart Street practice but soon became a partner. Liz fully embraced the work of the practice, manning the phone night and day when she was home, thus becoming well-known to and friends of countless people in and around Henley.

Liz was intimately involved in the design and building of the family house, Past Field, where they have lived ever since. Jane was born in 1959 and Susie in 1962.

Family music was always important. With two musical daughters and with Tony as pianist, Liz’s abilities as a musician were given a new dimension with music lessons, orchestras and ensembles and, later, careers in music to support.

The Salmons both took up stringed instruments and helped found the Henley Symphony Orchestra, which over the years has given enormous pleasure to members and audiences, bringing many distinguished musicians to Henley as soloists. Their house was always humming with music.

From 1964, a new dimension developed in Liz’s life when she took over local fund-raising for cancer research.

Moved by the cruel consequences that cancer brings, and with a strong belief in research to find treatments, her practical approach to everything resulted in a tireless campaign involving clothes fairs, flag days, coffee mornings, the Daffodil Supper and donation boxes at many Henley venues and events.

With her equally dedicated colleagues and the generosity of local people, Liz raised more than £650,000 for the Cancer Research Campaign (now Cancer Research UK) and was still at work when she died.

The precision with which the fund-raising was done, with every penny carefully counted and personally delivered to the bank, was a hallmark of her approach. For this work, Liz was honoured with the British Empire Medal in 1990. She served on national committees of the charity and received the Lady Benson Award and many other acknowledgements for this work.

In 2010, much to her surprise, she was honoured with the Sue Ryder lifetime achievement award.

Liz had a huge zest for life and love of adventure, enjoying the beauties of Henley and its surroundings, working in her garden, making clothes and curtains and cooking for parties and guests. She gave hospitality to the crews of visiting rowing clubs during the royal regatta (especially the University of London and Cambridge Blondie crews).

Liz also encouraged the endeavours of her daughters and their friends, was a wonderful mother and grandmother (Neah) to granddaughters Lucy and Lizzie and cared for her family with hugely energetic multi-tasking as well as the three black poodles that were so much part of family life at one time.

She travelled across Europe in a VW camper van, went hill-walking in North Wales, Scotland, the Lake District and the Alps and showed interest in cultural and arts events everywhere.

Hers was a highly fulfilling life conducted with great commitment and a wonderful sense of humour. She will be much missed.

A service of celebration and thanksgiving for Liz will be held at St Margaret’s Church, Harpsden, at 2.30pm on Wednesday, February 29.

A PREACHER from Zimbabwe concelebrated three masses at Sacred Heart Church in Henley.

Father David Barry, from Silveira House, a Jesuit social justice and development centre that provides training for the poor, told the congregation that nine people out of 10 in Zimbabwe are unemployed.

He said Zimbabweans had been waiting for years for political and social change but it was better to wait than to be violent. Last year, Sacred Heart’s justice and peace group sent £1,509 to Zimbabwe, half of which went to Silveira House and other half to the Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement.

Janet Banks, who chairs the group, said its mission was to raise awareness of humanitarian issues locally and to express hope for a better world.