Martin and Wilma saw me performing the Habanera from Carmen at Jeremy and Deborah’s musical soiree, and loved the performance… so much so that Martin invited me to sing at the celebration of Wilma’s 60th birthday party, a lunchtime event at the Boiler Room restaurant at Q Station in Manly.

It’s an absolutely gorgeous venue – the old quarantine station which has now been turned into a ‘resort’. The old buildings are weatherboard and look very much like they come from the early 20th century. The boiler-room restaurant is right down on the harbour, and the restaurant seats people outside, where they can see the beach, but it’s also covered (which means the acoustic is very nice). The day was completely perfect – beautiful blue sky, hardly any wind and light fluffy clouds scudding around from time to time, just to make the horizon interesting.

I performed the Habanera and the Seguidilla (both show stoppers from Carmen) and Voi Che Sapete (from The Marriage of Figaro), introducing myself as the proverbial ‘girl in the cake’. We had a lot of fun, and again, it was so wonderful to see what joy a bit of opera brings to people.

It is a pleasure to turn an occasion from something special to something memorable. Wilma said ‘This eases the pain of turning 60!’.

Thank you, Martin, for thinking of this gift for your lovely wife.