Ibby grew up surrounded by animals on a small farm in Hampshire. She started piano lessons aged 5, sang in the church choir and went on to study piano & singing at The Royal Academy of Music where she worked with some of the world’s best musicians including Vladimir Ashkenazy and Itzaak Perlman.

Singing in choirs was an important source of income as a student in London and her sight reading skills were essential when drafted in for last minute stand-in jobs. After graduating she spent a couple of years as a children’s nanny before going to live & work on a pony stud farm near Guildford.

Ten years later she met & married Dick who was living in Peterborough, so moved north! After moving Dick to a more rural location she settled into renovating their muddy, drab & draughty property into something more suitable for breeding horses and sheep whilst enjoying music ‘on the side’. Over the years she has taught piano and singing, plus a variety of other instruments, organised many fund raising concerts, and is an official accompanist at Oundle Music Festival.