Goodbye old friend

I waved goodbye to my old piano today, after being together for about 40 years. Although it looks pretty good in this picture, it's in need of refurbishment, which is expensive, and as it's been gathering dust in the hall for a long time now, I decided it was time to let it go. I've discovered, however, that there is no market for pianos these days as people now prefer the convenience and low maintenance of electronic ones. It seems you generally have to pay someone to take them away for you, usually to be scrapped. Well, I couldn't bear to think of my piano ending up like that so I was delighted to hear from a gentleman called Desmond who got in touch after I failed to get any interest for it on eBay. Desmond runs Camden Piano Rescue at Camden Market and, as well as being a wonderful pianist and piano restorer (who teaches other people to do it as well), he does lots of charitable projects involving taking pianos to hard-to-reach places such as the Himalayas.

Anyway, Desmond, who is a lovely chap, and one of his colleagues (who was also very nice) brought their van along this afternoon and have taken my piano off to be refurbished and hopefully bring a bit of music into someone else's life.

Here is a video about Desmond's work and here is the fundraising page for his next project in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.