An “irreplaceable” and well-loved teacher as well as a champion of musical theatre in Cornwall has died three months after her last performance.
Sheila Collins, 72 from Cadgwith was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April 2021 ahead of her performance of Inez in the Duchy Opera’s summer staging of Gondoliers at Falmouth Pavilion and Park House Truro.
A courageous Sheila was determined to continue with her role after her diagnosis, which was welcomed with huge applause at the end of the performance.
Sheila was born in Leeds and attended teacher training college in Liverpool, where she met her husband, Cornishman Paul who was working in the city.
They returned to Cornwall ahead of the birth of their first child Richard, and following the arrival of Melody and Polly, Sheila returned to teaching at Grade-Ruan School, where she taught until retiring at 60.
Paul said: “She must have taught most of the children who grew up in Cadgwith, Ruan Minor, and Kuggar.”
Sheila and Paul who were meant to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next year, both loved singing. Sheila first joined the Helston and Kerrier Music Society, then they sang together at Helston & Gilbert Sullivan Society.
Sheila sang and toured with the Goonvrea Singers at home and abroad. She also sang with the Truro Amateur and Operatic and the Dramatic Society and Penzance Musical Theatre.
She has appeared in various shows around Cornwall including the Minack Theatre in productions of the Merry Widow, Verdi’s Macbeth, Faust, and G&S Yeoman of the Guard.
For the last 30 years, Sheila was the driving force behind the success of Duchy Opera, not only singing but running the chorus and designing costumes.
Penzance-born teacher and director Richard Jackson said: “It’s people like Sheila who make the world go round.
“She was peerless and irreplaceable.
“She did the work of at least three normal folk. She loved opera and musicals and was determined to do everything she could to perform them to the highest possible standard, she raised us all up.”
Although Sheila knew she was seriously ill at her last performance as Inez in the Gondoliers, she assured Richard she would not let the company down.
“Her last one, Inez in The Gondoliers, just three months ago was magnificently over-the-top, melodramatic, and enthusiastically “old and crusted”, as the text demands.
“By the time she sang this role, she knew she was seriously ill and must have found the sheer energy levels needed very challenging.
“But she assured me privately that she would not let the company down and would sing all her performances with vigour and gusto. I never doubted her for a second.”
Husband Paul said: “She was in pain, but she felt that her pain in some way added to the role. Inez is a woman with a secret who is also in pain.”
West Cornwall musical director Angela Agutter said: “Sheila appeared in several my productions with the Duchy and in Helston and Penzance, both in principal roles and in the chorus.
“She has a lovely contralto voice and was a very fine actor and chorus mistress.
“She always gave 100 per cent to any production, not just in terms of her own performance but with costumes and props.
"She was an inspiration to the companies she worked with, a great motivator, encouraging younger talent. She was a teacher and in many ways was always a teacher in everything she did.”
A service to celebrate Sheila’s life will take place at Ruan Minor Methodist Chapel on Tuesday, November 1 at 2pm. Sheila requested that everyone wears bright colours.
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