Jolly, Hilary Jean

Author

b Watford, Herts 1945. Watford Girls’ Grammar Sch and Ecole d’Etudes Bilingues du Lycée Français de Londres. Following a ‘Damascus Rd’ conversion to Christ, she became a member of St Andrew the Great Ch, Cambridge, worked for the church part-time 1994–2002, and also from 1999 as a charity shop manager for a Christian youth and community centre. She has also been involved in supporting sufferers from schizophrenia. Encouraged by Christopher Hayward (qv) she began writing hymns, often as she walked with her dog on Cambridge’s Coe Fen. Her first published work was the prizewinning text (1999) for the St Paul’s Cathedral Millennium Hymn Competition, Through the darkness of the ages, though other texts had already come 1st and 3rd in a smaller-scale competition run by the Association of Christian Writers. Her best-known hymn now features in Sing Glory (1999) and elsewhere; one not included here is the carol-like text, O Mary, rock your little boy. In 2005 she joined the Jubilate Hymns ‘Text Advisory Group’ (TAG) for the assessment of new hymns. See also the survey and appreciation by Brian West in HSB 19.10, April 2011. Nos.685, 789, 861, 1163.