It is with great sadness we report the death of Marguerite Minster - singer, walker, translator, lyric writer and stage manager.
I first met her in 1983, when Doug King and I were stage managing the Christmas show, Waldo's Wonderful Web directed by John Davey. We were asked to take Marguerite as an ASM and she ended up under a table with a colostomy bag getting orange juice to disappear the wrong way down a glass. She went on to greater things, becoming a DSM and later a formidable SM, who ensured every 'i' was dotted and every 't' crossed. She always established a happy working atmosphere and was popular with cast and crew, but was intolerant if people failed to deliver on time (ask Mike Hagan about the table for A Christmas Carol that was only slightly late!). She made lasting friendships at The Questors and in all areas of her life. So many people wanted to visit her during her months in hospital that a daily rota had to be organised.
Another of her talents was to organise Sunday breakfasts in remote places across Southern England. The catch was that these were followed by an obligatory walk of 10 to 12 miles.
It is particularly sad she died so soon after her retirement, for which she had many plans, including spending more time in Italy and singing with the Twickenham Choral Society. Her close friends had recently been to a hotel in Lucca, Italy where her friends, the Italian owners, made us a sumptuous dinner to celebrate her 60th birthday. She was thoughtful and generous and many of her friends have small tokens of her sensitivity: Alec - a rucksack, Jo - sheet music, myself sleeping bags; we all have something.
She was a skilled linguist, speaking fluent German, Italian and French. Who the hell do I get now to communicate with M. Lapene who looks after my boat in France?
Eric Lister aided by Jo Perse
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