In Memoriam Beryl Clark 1931–2014
(Piano 1951) Beryl Clark, who was possibly the youngest student ever accepted onto the Graduateship course at the Guildhall School, has died aged 82. At the age of 17, Beryl was keen to pursue a career in music teaching and despite being below the stated minimum age of 18 years old she was invited to audition and offered a place at the Guildhall School – the only institution that she applied to. Beryl completed her studies in the autumn term of 1951 but had to wait until July 1952, when she was 21 years old, to collect her GGSM. Beryl spent 40 years in the music teaching profession followed by a further 25 years playing piano and violin in several orchestras and conducting. In 2012 she was presented with Honorary Life Membership of the Enfield Chamber Orchestra. Beryl was active in her local church and a proud supporter and regular visitor to the School throughout her life. In a 2012 letter to Principal Barry Ife, Beryl wrote, “I owe all my happy years teaching and conducting choirs and orchestras to the accidental lapse of government rules.”
Anthony Lally 1937–2014
(Speech & Drama 1961) Anthony attended Gunnersbury Grammar School, Ealing, where he joined a drama club and performed in Morning Departure, a play by Kenneth Woollard. After his National Service with the RAF, he studied Speech & Drama at the Guildhall School. His distinctive dark auburn hair made him instantly recognisable. He then became an actor and writer, working in repertory theatres and writing short stories for radio broadcasts. He also collaborated with 36
musician Alec Gould to write the musical Down on the River, based on Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. In his retirement he had a close association with Brighton Little Theatre for a number of years and played the title role in King Lear. He will be missed by his son and grandchildren as well as many friends, his sister and brother. Diane O’Neill, Anthony’s sister
Derek Martinus (aka Derek Buitenhuis) 1931–2014
Celebrated director and actor Derek Martinus, who directed at Guildhall at least seven times between 1986 and 1995, has passed away, aged 82. Born Derek Buitenhuis in Ilford, Essex, Derek took an early interest in acting and in his teens joined an amateur group touring Shakespeare to London pubs. Following national service with the RAF, Derek studied directing and acting at the University of Oklahoma and Yale school of drama. Derek went on to forge a successful freelance career as an actor and director both in the UK and in the US. As a theatre director Derek ran the pioneering in-the-round Pembroke Theatre in Croydon from 1959 to 1962. In television, Derek is perhaps best known for having directed 26 episodes of Doctor Who for the BBC between 1965 and 1970, and he also directed a number of popular TV series including Z-Cars and Angels. In the 1980s Derek directed the West End thriller The Killing Game and directed numerous productions for Guildhall, where he is fondly remembered among alumni and staff. The Guardian recalls “a rousing production of a scandalously neglected
early Ibsen play, League of Youth, in which the lead role was taken by an intemperately exciting young actor called Damian Lewis.” For Swedish television, Martinus directed Jan Guillous’ The Wolf in 1984 from a screenplay by his wife, novelist and playwright Eivor Martinus, with whom he collaborated extensively. Derek is survived by Eivor and their two daughters.
Fergal O’Mahony 1983-2014
(Piano 2008) Talented pianist Fergal O’Mahony passed away suddenly on 9 September aged just 31. Described by his agent Cole Kitchenn as “nothing short of a musical genius”, Fergal showed great promise from an early age, and attended junior school at the Royal Northern College for Music, followed by the RNCM and Manchester University. He went on to win a full scholarship to the Cologne Hochschule fur Musik and then Guildhall, graduating in 2008. As a pianist Fergal performed throughout the UK and Europe as well as the USA and Kazakhstan. As a Concerto soloist he appeared with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and Lakewood Symphony Orchestra, and he also toured with the European Youth Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy. Fergal’s great passion was to write music of his own. His first large-scale piece for theatre – the musical Gutter Press – was completed in 2012 and he penned the last note of his new musical Hallowed Ground shortly before his death. Fergal’s family will host a celebration of his life this autumn, with details being made available on his agent’s website, colekitchenn.com