Petersfield has lost one of its leading lights as a conductor who raised thousands for charity has died, aged 90.

Prayers have been said in St Peter’s church following the death of Ann Pinhey last Wednesday.

The conductor made an indelible impact on the town’s music scene from the 1970s onwards as several groups flourished under her tutelage.

The Harting Choral Society, Meon Consort and the Thursday Singers were among them.

The Musica Sacra group she formed in 1984 raised more than £20,000 for charity while her Petersfield Chamber Choir and Gemini Consort ran with her fundraising baton in later years. The Rosemary Foundation were frequent recipients while her services to Music, Choirs and to Charity also earned her a British Empire Medal in 2023. 

Her concert reviews were a mainstay of the Post and Petersfield Herald arts pages for many years while her artistic talents went beyond music.

The mother-of-two was also a dab hand at painting and pottery being a member of the Petersfield Arts & Crafts Society. Her work regularly appeared at their displays in Festival Hall and will continue to be showcased in Gallery 30 for the near future.

Friends and colleagues of the music-maker have described Ann as a “lovely cheery person” and “larger than life character” who was a “driving force to music in the area”.

Another highlighted her wonderful passion for concerts while others remembered her kindness, energy and “wicked sense of humour”, which often showed when reviewing concerts in the Post.

“I do have high standards and people are at liberty to disagree with me,” she said to a Music in Portsmouth profiler in 2020.

Ann has arguably been one of Petersfield’s greatest-ever fundraisers as her concerts have raised in excess of £85,000 for good causes.

She may have lifted her baton for the last time, but her legacy will never be silenced.