b'From The R.H. Cornish Violin Club to Strings Across the Sky,Suzanne Garriock Shares Her Love of Music It all started out when little eight-year-oldSuzannebecamefascinated with an instrument that her cousins werelearningtoplaytheviolin. Her parents saved up to buy her first violin.Thiswasthebeginningofa lifelong passion. Suzanne and her siblings grew up in Quebec. Her parents realized the importance of music lessons and made sure that their children had the opportunity to study music as well as having swimming lessons.I always felt that it was a privilege to learn music, commented Suzanne, who has taught violin and drumming to hundreds of local children.For 30 of her 33 years as a teacher at R. H. Cornish in Port Perry, Suzanne dedicated her time during recess and lunch hours to run a Violin Club for interested students.It all began when one of her Grade 1 pupils brought her violin to school for Show and Tell, and Suzanne started practicing with her at recess.That little girl was Lauren Malyon. Shesquitefamousnow,shesings and plays the piano. She was quite a prodigy, described Suzanne. (Check out this popular recording artist, who goes by LYON.)Other children expressed curiosity about these string instruments. As in-terest grew, the Violin Club blossomed.The first 10 years or so, there were 2530 students in the Violin Club, Suzannereported.Theyearbefore the pandemic, there were 66 kids.Theinstrumentsneededwere eitherdonatedorpurchasedby Suzanne,whofrequentedauctions. Then she would lovingly do any nec-essary repairsPlease turn to page 4FOCUS - FEBRUARY 20233'