Also feeling very sad at such a loss to the music world. Lesley had only recently retired, and was so looking forward to having more time for music.
I first met Lesley when I started to go to Nitten Folk Club about 8 or 9 years ago. She has been wonderfully supportive of other musicians, writers and singers, young and not so young. She also set to music some of the poems of John Haldane Sr, including "The Fields of France" about the shell-shocked men of WW1: as a song with Lesley performing it, it won the Edinburgh Folk Club songwriting competition in 2008.
She fought her illness with great strength and positivity.
A lovely tribute was made to her by Sheena Wellington at Balerno Music Festival last night: Sheena sang "I Hae been at Crookie-Den", one of the tracks that Lesley had recorded for Fred Freeman's massive undertaking to record all of Burns songs (on CD 4 of 13. track 16).
Trish