On Thursday January 24th 2019, London West MPP Peggy Sattler hosted her annual New Year’s Levee and featured Community Recognition Awards including Amabile’s very own Mary Margaret Farrow!
Mary Margaret was recognized for all her numerous volunteer activities in the city by Peggy Sattler (MPP of London West). Mary Margaret has done so much and has given thousands of hours to better all of our lives in this community – not just through Amabile but with other venues as well.
Throughout her entire life, Mary Margaret has dedicated her time to building community London. A resident of Byron, Mary Margaret is a retired music teacher and a volunteer with several arts-based agencies, including Amabile Choirs of London, Canada. For 34 years, Mary-Margaret has freely given of her time and energy to advance the mission of the Amabile Choirs in varied ways. She has recorded every concert Amabile has performed since the choirs’ inception in 1985 and even at the age of 81, continues to do so today which makes her our archivist as well. Besides recording all Amabile concerts, Mary Margaret or MM as she’s known, has also served on the Amabile Board of Directors for the past 34 years as official Board Secretary.
As a result of her pioneer work with the choirs, she has been instrumental in supporting the growth and development of this internationally renowned choral organization. When the demand for increasing our choirs grew because so many singers were interested in joining the organization, MM took on the duties of manger and librarian of the Junior Amabile Singers (JAS) to ensure this new choir was on solid footing from its inception. While she has given up her post as choir manager, MM continues to serve as librarian for an increasing collection of music.
Mary Margaret also leads our fund development team, writing and submitting successful local and provincial grants on behalf of Amabile. Through her work writing successful grants, the choirs have been able to accomplish numerous projects of excellence, including commissioning new music from London and Canadian composers as one example.
While Amabile is dedicated to providing quality educational programs for children, youth and adults to develop their musical talents, it should come as no surprise to the selection committee to know that MM has also served as a volunteer for other organizations as well, including: site manager for the vocal classes of Kiwanis Music Festival of London for at least the last 25 years; board chair for Calvary United Church; and served on executive committees of Middlesex Presbytery.
There’s no doubt that MM’s volunteer work has had a direct hand in making Amabile what it is today. Our tagline is “Enriching our community, one voice as a time” and it is due to our cadre of volunteers, and specifically MM’s endless commitment to Amabile that we continue to reach this goal. Her accomplishments go beyond Amabile and she has an immeasurable impact upon the community; she has directly touched the lives of a few thousand singers in London since 1985, and indirectly hundreds of thousands of audience members through the music of Amabile.
Congratulations on this prestigious award Mary Margaret!