ONE of Hereford's last living links with Sir Edward Elgar, Norah Rosamund Butcher has died in her 90th year.

Mrs Butcher, of Ledbury Road, was a teenager when she made her first appearance at a Three Choirs Festival in 1933. It turned out to be the ailing Elgar's last.

It was an occasion that Mrs Butcher would never forget - singing, under the great man's baton, his choral masterpiece, The Dream of Gerontius. The 19-year-old Norah found it an awesome event, but she fell in love with the atmosphere generated by Europe's oldest music event and attended all the festivals at Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester for the next 60 or so years.

Mrs Butcher would relate how Elgar was a striking figure at the opening service.

"He looked most impressive in his costume that included velvet breeches, stockings and silver buckled shoes," she said.

As it was her first festival, the youngster found Sir Edward the conductor rather difficult to follow. "He expected the chorus to know what they were doing - otherwise they should not be there," she added.

She sang at every festival from 1933 to 1981.

Mrs Butcher was the widow of the well-known Herefordshire historian Basil Butcher, another passionate Three Choirs supporter, and the couple's long-standing love affair with the event forged friendships around the world.