The Man Behind Ealing Hospital's Lunchtime Concerts
Hugh Mather estimates he organised more than 800 performances
Hugh Mather
September 26, 2024
Music helped bring harmony to Hugh Mather’s medical career and the consultant used to share his passion every Friday lunchtime by organising free classical concerts at Ealing Hospital.
He reckons on organising more than 800 concerts during his tenure at the hospital calling on a network of instrumentalists to put on the weekly shows for staff and the public.
“I can’t live without music,” says the 79-year-old who retired in 2006 but keeps his hand in overseeing weekly musical concerts at the picturesque St Mary's Church in Perivale whose busy calendar of concerts attracts more than 100,000 YouTube visits a year.
“I’d consider myself a decent pianist but there is a gulf between that and being a top professional. A lot of students from around the world studying at the London conservatoires play at Perivale and the talent can be breathtaking.”
Hugh’s love of music is self-evident with two pianos and an organ squeezed into the front living room of his Ealing home along with organ pipes salvaged from a church that make a garden feature worthy of Grand Designs.
He is a semi-professional pianist and organist himself and admits wrestling with his career choice. It says something that he considered medicine the easier option.
“I had a wonderful medical career but my love of music kept things in perspective which, I think, was an advantage. Medicine is a tough competitive career but you have to be exceptional to make the grade as a professional musician.
“I am the organist at St Barnabas Church Ealing and still get great pleasure playing.”
One of Hugh’s biggest successes as a consultant was being the first person to recognise the increased risk of diabetes among the British Asian community, in the Southall Diabetes Survey.
His findings - gathered after knocking on every door in Southall asking if anyone had diabetes - attracted worldwide attention.
"I have a lot of very fond memories of Ealing Hospital. It was a lovely place to work and there was a great team spirit about the place.”
Steve Watkins
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