From a Member on behalf of Basing Singers
I first heard the name "Betty Holmes" when I joined Basing Singers in 1987. I was told that the members of the choir felt honoured that Mrs Holmes had so swiftly accepted their invitation to be President of Basing Singers and that they were grateful to her for the support she had given to the choir in bygone years.
I soon had occasion to meet Betty as whenever her diary permitted she always took great delight in being a member of the audience at our concerts, be they in St Mary's Church or in Old Basing Village Hall.
Over the years Betty always showed a great interest in the personnel and the activities of Basing Singers. She wanted to know what music we would be performing in our next concert and very often she would take the opportunity to make a short speech to the audience and the choir at the end of the concert.
My lasting impression of Betty Holmes is that she was a lady who felt that the more effort and interest individual people put into life the more they would get out of it, and she was the prime example of such a person. She certainly lived a full life.