Yornup pianist credits faith for lifetime commitment to WA churches ahead of final performance after 60 years

An 87-year-old Yornup resident will perform her final piano recital in Bridgetown on Sunday after 60 collective years of playing in churches. Peggy Campbell said her parents took her to church as a newborn — and she has been attending churches in WA ever since. “My parents were practising Christians,” Mrs Campbell said. “I’ve never known not to go to church - I don’t think I’ve hardly ever missed a Sunday. “It’s food for my soul. I mean we’ve had bad times, but when I look at them, I wouldn’t consider them bad times because of my faith. “I just love going to church.” Mrs Campbell will play the piano for the final time at St Paul’s Anglican Church on Sunday morning. “One of the hymns I’ve chosen is what I first played at the congregational church when I was 14,” she said. “That’s been a favourite one of mine, so I’m playing that one on Sunday.” Her family will be attending the final recital with her grandson taking to the stage to play the bagpipes as a homage to her late husband Ross Campbell. “My husband always played that (song) every night with the pipes here (at home) when he was practising,” she said. Marrying in Perth at age 22, Mrs Campbell moved to Bridgetown with her husband in 1959. Within a few months, they bought a property in Yornup, and the family farm still operates today. She said her husband was her biggest supporter as he encouraged her to overcome “not feeling good enough” as a piano player. “I wasn’t brilliant, that’s for sure,” Mrs Campbell said. “But he used to say, ‘No, you’re lovely and everything’s good’, and because I had that backing, I kept playing.” Mrs Campbell can never think of a time in her life when she did not want to play the piano or organ in church, and does not recall many, if any, times when she was sick. “I don’t think it ever entered my head that I shouldn’t play - I just played,” she said. “I suppose it’s my faith really, isn’t it? Because I don’t see what else it could be.” The avid piano player said the music progressed from straight hymns to different types of music throughout the decades and she has thoroughly enjoyed branching out. “I can remember in about 1980, I played something for the first time that wasn’t in the hymn book,” Mrs Campbell said. “We felt so bold.” The song was This Is The Day and the jazzy momentum of it was different to traditional hymns. Mrs Campbell will also perform this song in her final recital this weekend. “It was a bold step to go out of the hymn book,” she said. “I loved doing that because we moved up with the times a little bit.” Over the years, Mrs Campbell would step back to encourage new people to play music in the church. But this time, she is retiring for good. “As you get older, you’ve got to keep your hands going,” she said. “I don’t want to sit there for half an hour day and do scales and arpeggios to keep my hands going, so I know it’s the right time.” Mrs Campbell was a piano and organ teacher back when Yornup Hall and tennis court were thriving. While raising her children, she was involved with music activities at the hall and the school. For 20 years, Mrs Campbell and her husband were even part of a dance band called Campbell and Co. “We were very involved in our Yornup community — it was very active,” she said. Mrs Campbell and her late husband have three children, nine grandchildren and a great grandchild due in July.