With thanks to Jim’s friend L P M Lloyd-Evans (U&G1967-1973) for writing this piece.

Those of you who knew Jim Potter [1944-2024 and at Churchill 1963-1967] will know what a very special person he was. He wore his philanthropy very lightly and most people would not be aware of the extraordinary impact he had on the lives of so many people, through the volunteering of his own time and effort as well as his funds. One of his devoted causes was Zambia Orphans Aid UK. Jim’s mother had been born in Zambia and Jim went there after graduation on an ODI Fellowship to work in the Ministry of Finance on transition support. On coming back, he set up ZOA UK, and his drive, energy and enterprise as a trustee and treasurer meant that by 2023, ZOA was able to give access to education and counselling to 7,000 children in Zambia, with a strong focus on girls’ education. He was also passionate about the environment and our duties to protect it for future generations. I found myself singing earlier in 2025 in his last great project, a new opera by composer Jonathan Dove, called Uprising, which combined two of the things that inspired Jim and were the basis for so much of his giving – music and the future of our planet and the people in it. Based on the experiences of Greta Thunberg, Uprising follows a schoolgirl Lola in a typical British town, who at first is sneered at or ignored by townspeople and fellow pupils alike, but instigates an explosion of awareness that ends with a great song of hope for the future. Jim knew he was dying when he approached Angela Dixon, Chief Exec of Saffron Hall, with the idea of an eco-opera. Through the 5 years it took to create the music and the libretto by April de Angelis, Jim was in close contact with Angela Dixon and with Jonathan, who was able to play and sing almost all of the work to Jim just days before he died. Uprising became a co-production with Glyndebourne, who premiered it as the latest and biggest of their community operas. Local choirs and schoolchildren in Sussex, then Saffron Walden and the surrounding area, then Glasgow and Edinburgh, have joined with the teams of soloists and professional orchestras to bring to life this challenging, questioning, emotional work. The Saffron Hall performance was dedicated to the memories of Jim and Hilary his wife, who died a short while before he did. By the end, not only many of the audience but also some of the choir were in tears. I found myself singing in the Saffron Hall basses next to Simon Potter, Jim’s brother, and he and our fellow chorus members would like to push for a giant performance of this at the Proms, with as many singers from community choruses as possible. Maybe this will happen, as the impact of Jim’s vision grows and grows – there are already rumours of a production in Utrecht in the near future.