WELL-KNOWN and popular Lyme Regis resident Helen Case, who died in a car crash in November, is to be remembered at a special event.

Those who attended Helen’s funeral in the packed parish church will remember Lyme vicar Reverend Jane Skinner revealing a long list of Lyme institutions with which Helen was associated, including the golf club, museum and Woodroffe School.

Perhaps less known was Helen’s love of folk music.

For nearly 30 years she was a member of local folk band Black Velvet. And it is to acknowledge this connection, and to honour Helen’s memory, that the remaining members of Black Velvet are to reconvene on the evening of Saturday April 22 at 8pm in the Pilot Boat, Lyme Regis, to provide a session of folk music based round the repertoire Helen loved to sing.

Black Velvet member John Wyon-Brown said: “In the early days Helen played accordion but later she moved to the bodhran, the Irish drum, and thus took on the vital, though hopeless, role of trying to keep the rest of us playing in time with each other!

"But her main contribution was on vocals, and any song Helen didn’t know wasn’t worth knowing.”

Helen’s son and one of her grandsons have diabetes and the band intends during the evening to raise funds for a cause the Case family supports, the East Devon Juvenile Diabetes Support Group (EDJDSG), with a collection and a raffle.

Another band member Adrian Pearson added: “Although the occasion will be a sad one without Helen, we also want it to be joyful, celebrating and recalling Helen’s love of life and energetic enthusiasm for everything she got involved with.

"Everyone who knew Helen is invited to drop in with a coin or two and sing along with a few numbers. If you can’t spare the whole evening then pop in for nine o’clock, when we plan to share a few words remembering Helen’s music making followed by the band leading a couple of songs dedicated to her memory of which we know she was particularly fond, including ‘Fiddler’s Green’ and ‘Do you want your old lobby washed down?’”

EDJDSG is a group of parents living in and around the east Devon area who have a child or children with Type 1 diabetes.

Their aim is to help each other by mutual support, friendship and advice. Anyone who would like to make a contribution in memory of Helen but can’t get to the evening may hand in a donation to Martin Diplock Estate Agency in Broad Street, where items suitable as raffle prizes may also be left and for which the band would be very appreciative.

Picture shows Helen with her granddaughter Daisy.