Café Lumiere’s new piano and the return of father

On Wednesday two exciting things happened: my father came out of hospital and the new piano arrived in the café’s Sussex branch. My father recently went to hospital with a blood problem which caused him to be very out of breath and feel tired. After a transfusion and a few days of rest he is now close to full strength again. A cause for the problem is not yet known and he is having tests in the next few days to ascertain how we can avoid the same thing happening again. The main thing is that he is back at home and well again.

A new piano also arrived this week. My brother and younger sister, who are very able musicians have been struggling on with our old piano for some time. Whilst it has been in the family for 50 years it is need of a rebuild – which costs more than to buy a working second hand piano. For that reason, we have bought another piano. It is a Berry piano made in about 1930 and rebuilt in about 1960. The case was restored again in 1990 or so. Consequently, it is a very smart addition to the café.

We were lucky, as we were able to get it for just over £500 of which I contributed £440. I think it is money well spent, and the sound is much better than that which we had become accustomed to.

(NB, this is not the actual piano but it bares a close resemblance - a photograph of the genuine article will appear within the week - when I can photograph it).