Ailsa's Blog: Meet Our Members: Maggie Coyne Prout

My first memories of music are singing in the car with mum and dad and my three older siblings. We used to do huge journeys in dad's old banger with no seatbelts. Sang all the way! Family parties were full of singing and going to church there was more singing.

My Great Aunt Eliza, born in 1903, used to take me to Mass in Leeds where there was an organist who had me mesmerised. I loved how the sound filled the church and how the last chord was always so long and resonated and bounced off the walls.

I learned the obligatory recorder in secondary school where we had a fabulous music teacher called Mr Butler who gave his all to bring some fantastic musicals and concerts to the delight of all the parents. I was always in the choir and loved it.

Then my dad bought me a guitar I taught myself how to play a few chords which came in very handy later on in life when I worked as an aid worker for 25 years in Africa and Asia and the only entertainment we ever had was me on the guitar encouraging as many people to sing along as possible! I hosted music nights with other expats in every country I lived in and even formed a “band” in North Korea with two other British guys. We had bright green outfits made for Saint Patrick's night where we entertained all the other aid workers until the early hours of the next day.

When I came back to live in England, I joined St Thomas More Church Choir in Seaford under the directorship of the late Tom Hagger. We sang Latin masses around Sussex as well as having a Viva Voce repertoire to take to many of the care homes in Seaford and Lewes at Easter and Christmas time.

From early on both my children were playing instruments and doing their grades. My daughter continued her studies and is currently at the Royal Northern College of music with her violin. She sings too and I love nothing more singing with her or playing duets with my flute and her violin.

I bought a flute when I was 50 with Great Aunt Eliza's legacy. I love it. I have a fabulous teacher called Sue Gregg and I play in a flute choir called Southdown Flutes. We do concerts twice a year.

I have sung on and off with the Seaford Choral Society for several years now and I enjoy every minute. Even the hard minutes are good fun!! Veronica is a superb director with such encouragement and enthusiasm and makes us all feel fabulous. John is a fantastic accompanist. What a team. We are all so lucky to have them.