G'day Listers, I have some basic details of Madame LILY PAYLING, apparently a well known contralto in her time. She grew up in Sydney NSW, Australia but went to England after the First World War and appeared at a series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Hall Nottingham, among other venues, during the 1920s and 1930's. She even had a series of PAYLING subscription concerts at the RAH and The PAYLING musical society was formed in 1947. She died I believe in a nursing home in Northampton at age of 87.(date ?) I have also been told that she ran a conservatoire for music somewhere on Sydenham Hill and organised concerts in aid of the West London Hospital in Hammersmith. Can any lister help or give advice as to how I might track down further information? Regards, Duncan Payling, Melbourne Australia

Try "The Stage" http://www.thestage.co.uk/ and go to the "connect" section. You might strike lucky. You could also try http://www.equity.org.uk/ and see if they can help you. Cheers Josephine ----- Original Message ----- From: "duncan payling" <duncanp@bigpond.net.au> To: <THEATRE-UK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 10:15 AM Subject: [THEATRE-UK] lily payling > G'day Listers, > I have some basic details of Madame LILY PAYLING, apparently a well known contralto in her time. She grew up in Sydney NSW, Australia but went to England after the First World War and appeared at a series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Hall Nottingham, among other venues, during the 1920s and 1930's. She even had a series of PAYLING subscription concerts at the RAH and The PAYLING musical society was formed in 1947. She died I believe in a nursing home in Northampton at age of 87.(date ?) > I have also been told that she ran a conservatoire for music somewhere on Sydenham Hill and organised concerts in aid of the West London Hospital in Hammersmith. > Can any lister help or give advice as to how I might track down further information? > Regards, > Duncan Payling, Melbourne Australia > >