The name of Joan Trimble will always be associated with one of the most popular piano duos – Joan and Valerie Trimble – who charmed so many audiences in the 1940s & 1950s. She was also a gifted composer, who studied at London’s Royal College of Music, with the encouragement of Herbert Howells and Vaughan Williams. Among her early influences was her love of the piano music of Ravel and Debussy, and the folk music she had heard in her native Ireland. She also loved words, and among her early works, from the late 1930s, was the group of three songs, including the sad My Grief on the Sea.