Marian Collihole

COLLIHOLE, Marian (née Howells). b. Pontypridd, Wales, 14 August 1933. She was educated at Pontypridd Grammar School. She worked as a Primary School teacher in Smethwick, Birmingham. While there, she entered writing competitions, including a BBC TV hymn-writing competition in 1966. Her text, ‘Where is God?’ (‘Woman racked and torn with pain’) was written in response to the Aberfan landslide that year, which engulfed a primary school, killing 116 children and 28 adults. The entry was not successful in the competition, but Peter D. Smith*, one of the judges, asked if he could set it to music, and it was included in his compilation, Faith, Folk and Clarity, published the following year. With...