I started playing violin in 1975 when I was 9 – my Mum booked me in for a lesson at school…..and that was it, I as hooked!

Going through the formal process of Associated Board exams; I was fortunate to attend a secondary school that had excellent Art, Music and Drama facilities. My early musical life was already beginning to blossom – orchestra, string ensembles, choirs and singing groups, and most importantly, the forming of my first band at the age of 14 – Rock Folk, female four-piece group, two violins, two guitars and four-part harmony performing Simon and Garfunkle, Beatles and Dylan songs. We played the Colston Hall, Bristol and the Cheddar Folk Club, and busked around Germany at 16.

Music and art have always gone hand in hand. I played in various bands during my time at art college in Bristol, a small orchestra with an amateur theatre company in London, before I spent time traveling abroad – accompanied by my violin of course! This introduced me to all kinds of exciting experiences – playing piano in a glitzy bar in Palm Beach, Florida, and playing violin with Los Sonoros in Havana, Cuba.

I eventually settled in Peterborough in 1992. I joined the City of Peterborough Symphony Orchestra playing viola, where I met Anni McAuliffe and Helen Britton who asked me to join the recently formed Intermezzo String Quartet.

As well as the classical music I would attend the Monday night Cherry Tree Folk evenings where I was introduced to singer/ songwriter, Thornton Holmes. We subsequently formed Bigfoot, with Phil Cavannagh, Dave Soul and Pete Dempsey. We were signed to Muddy Promotions opened the Cambridge Folk Festival, club stage in 1999 and 2000.

The Celtic scene was big in the late 90’s and The Rogues was the band I joined playing 5-string electric violin, with Mick Draycott, Dave Lenihan, Mark Forbear, Rob Hackett, Linda Scanlon and Mark Randall. The highlight of our gigs was being the resident band for the three-day Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1997.

The Celtic rock band Pook’s Hill was formed in 2001 with Roger Paton, Brian Colton, Chad Oliver, the late Tony Dixon, Fozzy Dixon and Gordon. We opened the Peterborough Beer festival in 2003 and 2004.

I played with originals band Moosejaw and subsequently reformed as Old Nick and the Blackwell with Dean Nicholls and Nick Blackwell. It was at this time that Thornton Holmes and I re grouped as Quest. We entered the British Live and Unsigned 2009 competition where we got through to the semi finals.

I had the privilege of working with composer, Rohan Leach in Juta, an ensemble of strings and oriental wind instruments from 2005-2007, with Diane Llewellyn, Emily Smith, and Helen Britton.

I am currently playing fiddle with The Jazz Pidgins – a six-piece band with Fozzy Dixon, Tony Trundle, Jack Doherty, John Moseley and Mick Castillano. This is a dream come true for me – having the opportunity to play music I adore with first rate musicians.

Equally enjoyable, with my ‘70’s Rock hat’ securely in place and my electric fiddle under my chin, is my involvement with Retrolux, featuring Dave Colton, Fozzy Dixon and Ian Graham.

Ian Graham and I on acoustic fiddle also play as the Ian & Kat Duo.

There are often times when I am asked to play on recordings for bands; the most recent being The Contrast (signed by Wicked Cool Records) on their 2011 album, featuring Dave Reid, Richard Mackman, Fozzy Dixon, Keiren Wade.

The one constant throughout has been Intermezzo String Quartet. Formed in 1996, we have played at some exquisite venues around the country. We trained with the late Howard Davis of the Alberni String Quartet and performed a masterclass with his quartet at Madingley Hall, Cambridge. There have been so many wonderful occasions we have played with the quartet – for the Duchess of Rutland at Belvoir Castle, the Earl of Northampton at Boughton House, and on a boat going up and down the River Thames in central London (choppy and challenging!). It is a great honour to write many of the string arrangements for the quartet – something we pride ourselves on that we can provide any music the client requests – however extraordinary the choice! (The theme from Family Guy, and The ‘A’ team have been requests in the past!)