June 30th 2011 – Zoë was awarded her Grade 6 certificate for Popular Music Performance with Merit.

Zoë loved singing right from when she was little. I used to sing her songs in the bath and she would sing them straight back to me in perfect pitch, sounding far better than I ever had.

She loved singing in class assemblies, and in the Christmas plays at school. She also loved singing in the Christingle service which she took part in a few times. Once when she played the part of a child from China, she insisted I took her to the Disney Shop to buy her some Mulan pyjamas to look the part!

At secondary school, Zoë joined a singing group with some of her friends, called Octava. They sang in concerts at school under the talented direction of Marion Nicolosi who would often join in and sing with them.

In later years, they would regularly meet up at a care home with Marion to sing carols to the residents each December – although Zoë always wished her medication didn’t prevent her from drinking the sherry they were all offered! It is interesting that, despite having LAM, she was still able to sing, and sustain long notes.

We kept singing at home in the kitchen, especially to Paul McCartney, and at Christmastime we would turn down the lights and sing and dance to our favourite Christmas CDs.

Last Christmas we decided that if the Christmas cruise we’d been talking about for 2023 came off, and anybody wondered where we were, they would find us in the Karaoke bar, singing along to our favourite Christmas hits.
This year, I’m going to get everyone to sing along with me in the kitchen in her honour.