After touring for three years with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, she completed her studies in London. After some experience in concert work and teaching, she joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a chorister in 1937. Soon she assumed the role of Inez in "The Gondoliers" and, as understudy, began occasionally to play Katisha in "The Mikado" and the Duchess of Plaza-Toro in "The Gondoliers". By 1939, she was also filling in as Ruth in "The Pirates of Penzance" and the Queen of the Fairies in "Iolanthe".