Pamela Sandilands, Dowager Lady Torpichen

Fr John Salter writes:

Pamela Torphichen was a devout Roman Catholic and a keen ecumenist long before it became acceptable or fashionable to be so. It was while at school at the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus at Mayfield in Sussex that she not only became interested in music and politics, but also in Russia – its history and the Orthodox Church and its art, particularly its icons. On one occasion her interest in Russia brought her into contact with Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Alleluyeva, a difficult person to deal with, understandably, as Pamela discovered! A less fraught encounter was with the Russian poetess Irina Ratushinskaya, whose poem, Song of Freedom, Pamela set to music and had performed in the presence of the poetess in her home in Moore Street, Chelsea.

Her other interests were the Eastern Churches in communion with Rome, and in particular the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who following World War II were “Displaced Persons” and were settling in London, and whom she felt needed special care. She also involved herself with the work of The Aid to the Church in Need, the Latin Mass Society, the Friends of The London Oratory and the Knights of Malta, which she helped with the Order’s work in Lourdes, and which earned her the Companionship of the Order in the Scottish Delegation in 1990.

Living, as she did, in the parish of St. Mary’s, Cadogan Street, Chelsea, she was a keen supporter of the Melkite Greek Catholic Liturgy celebrated from time to time in that church by Father David White and the Carmelite Father Elias.

A severe stroke some ten years ago greatly reduced her activities and confined her to a wheel chair, but she lived on looked after devotedly by her family and two au pairs, happily from her beloved Eastern Europe.

Fr. John Salter and Fr. Giorgios Ntagkas of the Society’s Committee represented the Society at her funeral in the London Oratory.