ENID HUNT – 8th July 1911 to 30th October 2002
The world into which Enid Hunt was born was very different to that of the present day. This was especially true for women. Mothers did not ‘go out to work’, daughters were educated but career choices were limited and higher education was not widely available. Enid’s father, Hubert Hunt, was the much respected organist at Bristol Cathedral, so her young adulthood was a round of lessons in piano, violin and organ, singing in choirs, playing in orchestras and attending concerts. She fondly remembered trips with her father to the Three Choirs Festivals where she rubbed shoulders with many of the eminent English musicians of the time.
On leaving school, she took the Teachers Training Course at the Royal Academy of Music gaining an LRAM Hons to add to her piano diplomas and later, as an organist, the ARCO diploma. She was one of the first to obtain the SRP diploma CSRP which included viva voce examination by the likes of Walter Bergmann – scary! But the achievement of which she was most proud was her Open University B.A. in 1975 and Honours in 1983, at the remarkable age of seventy-two.
For nearly 50 years Enid taught general music, violin and piano in schools in and around Bristol and, encouraged by her brother Edgar, she introduced recorder playing as well. Together in 1948 they founded the Bristol Branch of the SRP and Enid was for several years Secretary, Treasurer and Musical Director all rolled into one! She continued as Secretary until 1995 when ill health forced her to retire. She regularly attended the Recorder in Education Summer Schools and, until 1994, the annual National SRP Festivals where her sharp mind and accurate memory often proved useful.
Enid’s whole life centred around music and even in later years, when confined to a wheelchair, she would still regularly attend concerts and Bristol Branch SRP meetings. Hers was a life of hard work and devoted voluntary service to the many musical societies which she supported. She was a rather private person but her pupils, especially young children, and a few privileged friends glimpsed a sense of humour and an insight into a world now fast disappearing. Her passing marks the end of an era in Bristol.
Sylvia Davies