My grandfather was a keen piano player and singer, which was fairly common in the early part of last century. In the days before records, CD’s and ipods, people made their own music. Social gatherings usually involved piano playing and singing, at least in my family it did. My mother told me my grandfather had a lovely singing voice and a good ear for a tune, he could play any tune he heard. I don’t remember hearing my grandfather play the piano much when I was a child, though he did let me try to play from his old song-books.

My grandfather’s piano now sits in my son’s room, where it is still very much in use. It gets tuned regularly, though due to its age the frame is a little warped and although the tone is still good, the pitch is not quite perfect.