SINGER-COMPOSER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 232, 30 September 1944, Page 8

SINGER-COMPOSER

YOUNG AUCKLAND GIRL

MARJORIK LAWRENCE'S TRIBUTE

"I hope to go abroad to study; I have done everything I have wanted to and now it is my hope to achieve this," said Miss Margaret Gerrand, L.R.S.M., with a bright smile. She was sitting in a chair, surrounded by books and papers when we called upon her.

Miss Gerrand, who has been incapacitated through an illness since the age of four, has achieved wonderful things. She began her musical career at the age of 14. She passed all her exams with honours and one with distinction. She has composed over a hundred songs and recently she gave a recital. She was also winner of the Schubert Scholarship for vocalists awarded by the Auckland Society of Musicians.

But the thing which thrilled her most that morning was-that she had received a letter from a relation in Sydney telling her that Marjorie Lawrence, the Australian singer, had read her Press notices and had commented with admiration. "Tell your niece," said the letter, "that I admire her tremendously, for I know the difficulties she has had to overcome to do what she has done. Tell her that I understand many of her problems, for I had to overcome the same." It will be remembered that Marjorie Lawrence, smitten with infantile paralysis, overcame this difficulty and succeeded in the career of a singer.

Miss Gerrand is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Percy A. Gerrand, Mount Albert, and she has two sisters, Nina and Ailsa. Her parents were determined that their daughter's musical gifts should not be wasted. They keep her life as normal as possible, and Margaret attends concerts regularly, to keep in touch with, things musical.

Margaret Gerrand believes that a disability does not keep the individual back if she has the necessary courage. It is only something to be overcome, and as singer-composer she has done this.