Hilary Quinn

Primary school music teacher for far too many years to admit to! Still learning....

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

In the light of #Easter, let us allow ourselves to be amazed by Christ! Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us! Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@OrganistBarbie I’d never be able to do that either!

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@OrganistBarbie Maybe they expected you to transpose the rest of the accompaniment….

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@MichaelRosenYes How about “Eyes and nose, wriggle your toes”?

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

*One month before her 95th birthday, Patricia Routledge wrote something that still gently echoes:*

**“I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.”**

My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.

At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.

At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.

At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.

At 80, I took up watercolor painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.

Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.

**I’m writing this to tell you something simple:**

**Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.**

Let these years ahead be your *treasure years*.

You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.

You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.

*With love and gentleness,*

— Patricia Routledge

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@ThatEricAlper Billy Joel Piano Man

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

Just read a school’s music curriculum….no music lessons for Y1-Y5 in first half of summer term…. #musiced

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@YTPsol @MichaelRosenYes @SKShlomo Used to use these with my Year 5’s when I was teaching! They loved seeing @MichaelRosenYes trying out beatboxing!

[Thehullboy @Thehullboy1]

NATIONAL TV BABY!! Delighted to say I will be live on BBC BREAKFAST on Monday morning. A surreal feeling receiving that phone call yesterday, very grateful to be able to spread the word of mental health and the challenge on national tv 🙏❤️

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@orguemystique Always touches the heart and the soul.

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@Headteacherchat Retire…..which is what I did after 40 years of teaching!

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@OrganistBarbie Queen of the Night is 2 Cs above middle C. That’s seriously impressive for an alto!

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@OrganistBarbie Top C? Queen of the Night C?!

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@ThatEricAlper The Way We Were Barbra Streisand

[BBC Archive @BBCArchive]

Continuing our Top Ten of 2024, at number 3...

In 1960, a British schoolgirl cheerily tells Judith Chalmers about her holiday, which involved accidentally getting arrested in East Germany.

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@lyndseyevans @MusicEdu4all @sgtoyne I think it was A.

[Hilary Quinn @MrsHFQ]

@lyndseyevans @MusicEdu4all @sgtoyne Ooo yes! Exactly this! I transposed it on the piano to a more manageable key for children’s voices.