Estelle White

White's hymn for harvest festival, "Autumn Days", is included in Come and Praise. The hymn caused controversy in 1996, when choir members of the 12th-century St. Mary's Church in Wroxham, Norfolk, walked out rather than sing the hymn. They found the reference to "jet planes meeting in air to be refuelled," to be inappropriate. White explained that she had written the hymn for the children at a school under a flight path to sing.

White left the convent in 1970 and taught in Catholic schools in the north of England until she retired. She also wrote articles for the Guardian newspaper and various women's magazines. During this time, she studied Hebrew and Greek, earning an MA with Distinction from Leeds University in 1989. She directed the church choir at St Josephs, Dewsbury, from 1984 until 1991.

After the war, White trained as a physiotherapist at Newcastle on Tyneside, and worked with children who had cerebral palsy. She acted, directed, painted scenery and composed music for productions at the People's Theatre in Newcastle before moving to Ontario, Canada, for 18 months, where she joined the Roman Catholic Church. White returned to England in 1965 and became a nun, taking temporary vows with the Corpus Christi Carmelite Sisters. She trained at Digby Stuart College in Roehampton and qualified to teach theology and music. White's first hymns were composed during her years as a nun; some were published or copyrighted under the name "Sister Estelle," though most were published under the name "Estelle White."

White joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II, when she was 17, and played saxophone with a British army band on many ceremonial occasions, including the 1946 Victory Parade. She also travelled to entertain troops in the Central Mediterranean Force in Palestine and Egypt.

Elizabeth Estelle White (4 December 1925 – 9 February 2011) was a British composer who wrote over 160 hymns, several masses, and music for theatre. White grew up in a musical family on Tyneside, where she learned to play the piano, guitar, clarinet and tenor saxophone. Her musical influences included Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and musical theatre.