Ehud and Mrs Radford

EHUD

After Othniel, it was Ehud.

Remember the pattern?

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.

Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite.  Judges 3:12-15

Interesting story as to how that deliverance comes about…….

Ehud makes a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he straps to his right thigh under his clothing. He goes to Eglon king of Moab, (who is a very fat man. This is relevant – trust me!) to present a tribute.

When he sends the men who’d carried the tribute away,  Ehud returns to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”

So the king sends all his attendants away.

Ehud approaches him and says, “I have a message from God for you.”

As the king rises from his seat, Ehud reaches with his left hand, draws the sword from his right thigh and plunges it into the king’s belly.

Even the handle sinks in after the blade. Eglon’s bowels discharge. The fat closes in over the sword.

Then Ehud leaves, locking the doors behind him.

When the servants find the doors locked, they say, “He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the palace.”

They wait – ‘to the point of embarrassment’ (what a great phrase!), but eventually unlock the doors. There they see their king fallen to the floor.

Dead.

And that is how Ehud delivered the people. Like something out of The Hunger Games. That is how he got away. That is how they conquered the Moabites. And that is how the Israelites came to live in peace for eighty years.

MRS RADFORD

Mrs Radford was my violin teacher. I started playing the violin when I was 8. I don’t remember how it came about. Mrs Radford was my violin teacher until I was 18. I had lessons at Primary School and then lessons at her house after that.

I loved her. And I loved playing the violin.

I had a pretty sheltered upbringing and she was the only non-Church person with any influence in my life, apart from school teachers. We got on really well.

She believed in me. She believed I could play. And play well. She seemed uncomplicated and straightforward. I liked that.

She didn’t know my cousin Jonny which was a massive bonus, because he was a year younger than me and played the violin too and was probably better than me and my mum constantly compared us.

Mrs Radford wasn’t interested in comparing me to anyone. She never put pressure on me. She wanted me to enjoy playing and develop self-motivation and simply be the best violinist I could be.

Maybe it wasn’t really her that was the influence in my teenage life – although she was a constant when a lot of other things and people were changing around me – but maybe it was playing the violin and where that led me…….

I played every day. I played in the Junior Symphony Orchestra and the School Orchestra. I became the leader of both. I got Grade 8 when I was 18. I played solos in competitions at school. I played the Bach Double Violin Concerto with Jonny (I played 2nd violin but I didn’t care – I can still remember how playing that piece made me feel…..) I played in concerts all over the region and went to Holland and Doncaster with the orchestra.

My violin was an integral part of who I was. It was a way of expressing some of the teenage angst I had no other way of expressing.

My parents saw my playing as a hobby rather than any kind of career choice – ‘that’s not a world you want to get into’; ‘it’s too hard to make a living in that world’; ‘there is so much competition – are you sure you’re really that good?’; ‘that isn’t the life we want for you’. Maybe they didn’t say these things. Maybe it was implied.

For whatever reason, I believed it enough to NOT choose Music A Level. I did however still love playing enough to want a violin for my 18th birthday. I remember Mrs Radford taking me to London to Ealing Strings to choose a violin. I was overawed. I had to stand in a room out the back and try out lots of different violins and felt really self-conscious. I had to bargain with my Mum and Dad to get the one I fell in love with (and therein lies a whole other tale…..) And I still have that violin now. Over 30 years on. It is still my most treasured possession. It is still pretty much my only link to the teenage me, to Mrs Radford and her calm belief in me.

She grounded me. She instilled in me a great balance of hard work and enjoyment; of dedication and passion. The only time she ever commented on my life was when I was telling her that I was getting into roller skating and going to the rink in Felixstowe regularly. She told me that my wrists were precious and that I should protect them and treasure them and give up skating. It simply wasn’t worth the risk of not being able to play the violin again.

I loved that she cared that much to even think that way. And I stopped skating.

I played the violin seriously for 20 years. I played in the University Orchestra and had lessons with a professional violinist. I finally studied for Music A Level when I was pregnant with Luke and did a recital when he was a baby and got a Grade A! At that point, I was the best player I had ever been. And then I got RSI in my right shoulder, arm and wrist and had to be in plaster for six months…….and have never played in the same way again.

Stopping was heart-breaking. Playing the violin was part of who I was. It is how my soul expresses itself.

That is why when I get the opportunity to play now, I seize it with both hands. I play in the band at church occasionally. I treasure those opportunities. I still have that passion in my heart that Mrs Radford fanned into flame all those years ago.

That is why she gets a mention in this list of individuals who have led, inspired and challenged me.