The Falmouth Packet is delighted to announce that retired nurse, Jennifer-Jade Prisk, has won the top prize in the Packet/Duchy Opera quiz - and a more deserving winner would be hard to find.

Not only does she love opera and singing, but Jennifer-Jade has recently recovered from throat cancer. Her illness initially destroyed her voice and left her unable to speak, let alone sing.

She said her love of opera got her through, explaining: “I took my inspiration from the opera singers Jose Carreras, and Russell Watson, who both survived serious illnesses to sing again. I was determined to be a survivor, too.”

And she is delighted that thanks to the Falmouth Packet and Duchy Opera, she will be able to enjoy a night at the opera after winning two free tickets, worth £46, to see Die Fledermaus, otherwise known as the Flying Fox, when it opens in June in the Princess Pavilion, Falmouth.

Even so, the recovery was hard. First, she was delighted when her speaking voice returned. But she had a major breakthrough when she was offered a chance to sing in a small choir, while on a visit to Lourdes, the pilgrimage site in France.

As a nurse, Jennifer-Jade, has accompanied groups to Lourdes for 20 years, and had made sufficient recovery to travel with a group again.

It proved a catalyst. “They were short of singers, so I was asked if I wanted to join the choir in Our Lady’s Grotto. I wasn’t sure about it, but I started to sing extremely carefully and very slowly my voice started to return. It was a huge turning point for me physically and psychologically.

"I thought thank God, I’ve got my speaking voice back, but to sing is a bonus," she added. 

Back home in Cornwall, Jennifer-Jade, who began singing at Treleigh Primary School, Redruth, is trying to build up her voice and is looking for a suitable choir to help cement her recovery.

But she is over the moon to have won tickets for Die Fledermaus, which will be sung in English. She said: “I have visited opera houses all over the world, including Verona and Rome, as well as the Royal Opera House. I love everything about it.

“It has all come out of the blue - a complete surprise. I saw the quiz in the newspaper, and I don’t know what made me have a go. I thought it would be a long shot, but decided to give it a try.”

Die Fledermaus showcases many wonderful Viennese Strauss waltz melodies. Stage director, Gillian Geer, says it will be a sparkling production, complete with masked ball, all very glamorous and stunningly beautiful.

A comedy of errors, peopled by larger-than-life characters, the operetta follows their hilarious mishaps, deceits, infidelities, disguises, and mistaken identities.

Jennifer-Jade worked alongside the MOD as a nurse for many years, so travelled widely. She returned home to Cornwall when her mother became ill and needed nursing.

She said: Unfortunately, it wasn’t long after my mother died that I was diagnosed with cancer. But I am a survivor, that’s the important thing, and I want to get back to enjoying all the things I used to enjoy like singing.”

Duchy Opera’s Die Fledermaus, the Flying Fox, opens on Thursday, June 6 and Friday, June 7 at the Princess Pavilion, Falmouth.

Further information can be found at duchyopera.co.uk Tickets are now on sale from the Minack Box Office, www.minack.com/duchy-opera Standard tickets cost £23, students £10 and under 16s free.