{"id":140119,"date":"2019-04-18T17:40:31","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T16:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/?p=140119"},"modified":"2019-04-19T14:15:41","modified_gmt":"2019-04-19T13:15:41","slug":"in-loving-memory-of-vicky-martin-1947-2019-who-will-be-missed-by-many","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2019\/04\/18\/in-loving-memory-of-vicky-martin-1947-2019-who-will-be-missed-by-many\/","title":{"rendered":"In loving memory of Vicky Martin 1947 &#8211; 2019 who will be missed by many"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I had known Vicky Martin since 2004. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IKgTf9ZpcBU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption> <br><strong>Our last performance with Vicky was captured on video&nbsp; <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then we played around 3500 gigs of various kinds. We met through Roses forum when Vicky posted a thread about coming out having formed a band in 2003 and deciding to start performing as Vicky at that time. She was at that time looking for a keyboard player. I had been playing music and recording for many years but till then had not done many live performances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I joined I expected that it might be the case of the odd gig at the weekend twice a month. Vicky had other ideas and by the start of 2005 we were already doing around 10 gigs a month on average. A lot of these were in pubs, some of which were a bit rough at best. In those days I often travelled to gigs alone and having not having adjusted to musician time, I would turn up early and be &#8220;the only Tranny in the pub&#8221;. That was a rapid learning curve. The smoking ban had not come in yet either so a lot of these places were the brown nicotine stained variety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The years went by in somewhat of a blur. I left my full time job at the Civil Service in 2008 and most of my time was spent with music of various sorts. THere were really about 5 different bands that we had in all the various combinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elephant Shelf, Jessie Pies Cleavage of Death (Jessie was at the time a very talented Burlesque Performer, and is also a songwriter and a very good artist and painter), The Delta ladies, A swing\/jazz group, and and another act that filled the gaps between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the years we were also privileged to met and work with some very wonderful musicians and also managed to interview quite a few others too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whilst we were doing that Vicky also wrote for music magazines, acted as an agent for other acts, which she was still doing and still being an ordained minister of the church often gave the service at funerals when money was a bit tight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vicky had fallen away from the church, but was a person faith though in later years in the agnostic sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;the truth values of certain claims \u2014 especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether or not God, the divine or the supernatural exist \u2014 are unknown and perhaps unknowable&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her belief was a bit like the famous Patrick Moore quote about the possibilities of extraterrestrial life &#8221; We just don&#8217;t know&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently we were intended to set up a folk club at a URC in Enfield. The church of England often has a close relationship with real ale drinkers and so it was that Vicky became friends with the local Rev and his Mrs after meeting at the Little Green Dragon, a micro pub near to Vickys apartment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We had an event planned &#8220;Concert against Racism&#8221; on Friday 3 May organised with the Local Labour Party which Vicky was also member of for about the last 4 years. After some debate we have decided to go ahead with it as a combined fund raiser for various charities and a celebration of Vicky&#8217;s life with live music and some Ales. We hope that many of Vicky&#8217;s friends and co-conspirators will be there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vicky&#8217;s health was reasonable up until the last, though Vicky had a quadruple bypass op in 2014 and also had congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation so we knew she would not be around forever. In the last few months it was apparent that she was tired and finding things much more of an effort and we were reducing our gigs to around 80 a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vicky&#8217;s death was sudden though and she leaves a very big gap. She also helped many people over the years without making any fuss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was with her in her last moments and she had shown no signs of distress at any point. Our last words were about the next gig we were to play that weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-yellow-background-color\"><strong>We have an event which will be my first performance without Aunty Vicky:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Enfield Stand Up To Racism\/ Vicky&#8217;s memorial gig Friday 3 May<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-beige-background-color\"><strong>Friday 3 May<br>Winchmore Hill United Reformed Church<br>77 Compton Road Winchmore Hill<br>London N21 3NU<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Doors are at 7.30<br><br><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketsource.co.uk\/vicky-martin-tribute\"><strong>https:\/\/www.ticketsource.co.uk\/vicky-martin-tribute<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had known Vicky Martin since 2004. Since then we played around 3500 gigs of various kinds. We met through Roses forum when Vicky posted a thread about coming out having formed a band in 2003 and deciding to start performing as Vicky at that time. She was at that time looking for a keyboard &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2019\/04\/18\/in-loving-memory-of-vicky-martin-1947-2019-who-will-be-missed-by-many\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">In loving memory of Vicky Martin 1947 &#8211; 2019 who will be missed by many<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6NRDR-ArZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":174899,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2021\/04\/13\/diana-and-vicky-being-unplugged-and-folk-style-at-chesham-folk-club\/","url_meta":{"origin":140119,"position":0},"title":"DIana and Vicky being unplugged and folk style at  Chesham Folk Club","author":"diana Stone","date":"April 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Circa 2017 DIana and Vicky being unplugged and folk style. At Chesham Folk Club. Picture courtesy of Julian Mount\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Delta Ladies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Delta Ladies","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/delta-ladies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Diana Stone and Vicky Martin Acoustic","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Vicky-and-D-Chesham-Folk-Club-1024x800.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Vicky-and-D-Chesham-Folk-Club-1024x800.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Vicky-and-D-Chesham-Folk-Club-1024x800.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":141686,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2019\/05\/18\/tune-for-vicky\/","url_meta":{"origin":140119,"position":1},"title":"Tune for Vicky","author":"diana Stone","date":"May 18, 2019","format":"video","excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/QPOpZqdOvhE A short extemporised Violin tune by Diana Stone at the celebration of Vicky Martins life at the United Reformed church in Winchmore Hill May 17 2019","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/QPOpZqdOvhE\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":174894,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2021\/04\/03\/soon-it-will-be\/","url_meta":{"origin":140119,"position":2},"title":"Soon it will be two years past","author":"diana Stone","date":"April 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Its now coming up two years since Vicky martin died after a Delta Ladies gig at the Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell London.\u00a0 Its seems vividly like yesterday in some respects and also in a whole\u00a0 other life time ago since so much has changed since then.\u00a0 I did carry the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Delta Ladies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Delta Ladies","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/delta-ladies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":141741,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2019\/05\/18\/at-the-last\/","url_meta":{"origin":140119,"position":3},"title":"At the last","author":"diana Stone","date":"May 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Friday was our memorial\/Celebration of Vicky's life. It was a fairly tradition service much like a funeral but with a couple of musical interludes among the hymns and readings. We had several of Vicky's friends speak and the service was given a fairly light touch. It's a sort final full\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":179241,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2025\/08\/31\/a-tiny-drop-of-empathy-can-spread-along-way-if-you-let-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":140119,"position":4},"title":"A tiny drop of empathy can spread along way if you let it.","author":"diana Stone","date":"August 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Diana Stones Glasscage \u00b7 Its Just A Dream Gone Bad Today I have a headache (dodgy sinuses and a lifelong issue). It's not helped by reading about the madness going on generally both at home in the UK and outside it.So I am not going to mention any particular things\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/being-watched.png?fit=1200%2C588&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/being-watched.png?fit=1200%2C588&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/being-watched.png?fit=1200%2C588&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/being-watched.png?fit=1200%2C588&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/being-watched.png?fit=1200%2C588&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":155522,"url":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/2020\/01\/22\/i-hope-for-those-of-you-that-are-in-need-something-turns-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":140119,"position":5},"title":"I hope for those of you that are in need something turns up.","author":"diana Stone","date":"January 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I have seen some very sad posts on Facebook recently. A lot of people seem to be going through a very bad time, many with mental health issues. I have always hated this time of year. Last year I would have phoned Vicky and we would have moaned about life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140119"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140175,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140119\/revisions\/140175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glass-cage.com\/dianas_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}