MOVING tributes have been paid to Fenland Music Centre's inspirational director Kathy Faelber after she was killed in a car crash on her way to a concert on Saturday.

The 56-year-old was driving to watch her students at St Peter's Church, in March, when the crash happened on the A1101 close to Shippea Hill Station, at around 4.40pm.

Mother-of-two Mrs Faelber, from Mildenhall, had been in March rehearsing but had returned home to print out the concert programme. The concert went ahead despite the tragedy. Children wept as they were told the news afterwards.

A tribute left on the the music academy's website said: 'Kathy was known and admired by so many young musicians throughout her career in Cambridgeshire and especially in the Fens where she did much of her teaching and, of course, at her beloved Fenland Music Centre.

The centre meets each week at the Neale Wade Community College in March.

'She was herself a talented musician who declined more senior positions at work as she worried 'that I'll never pick up an instrument again'.'

'She was meticulous in her approach to her work, highly organised and on top of every detail. Above all she worked hard for the young musicians under her charge.

'The vital thing for Kathy was that the students enjoyed their music and that they had choice and as many opportunities to play as she could provide.

'Many of her students went on to enjoy careers in music themselves but Kathy took pride in any and all of the accomplishments of the young musicians whose talent she carefully nurtured.

'She was protective and caring of the teachers with whom she worked, encouraging their progress in their careers.

'As a teacher she was forthright and as a colleague frequently plain spoken - we all knew what Kathy thought! She admired that trait in others - she liked to know where she stood.

'Kathy had a mischievous sense of humour, which was always a source of great entertainment for her friends. As well as her music and her family, she was devoted to her cocker spaniels and always had new photos to show of her 'girls'.

'Her caring, generous spirit will be greatly missed by all of us who are struggling to take in the magnitude of our loss brought on by her sudden and untimely death.'

Mrs Faelber, a violinist with the Cambridge Sinfonia Orchestra, taught hundreds of young musicians across the county and ran several youth orchestras.

She had been driving a green Mazda when it was in collision with a silver Honda Accord. Both Mrs Faelber and the driver of the Honda, Bradly Todd Ring, 26, from Littleport, died at the scene.