The value of the MMD archives was once again brought home to me earlier
this week.  After receiving a shipment of rolls, I settled down and
started to catalogue them.  One of my database fields is 'Date of
composition', and to find this out I do a Google web search for the
title of the song, usually yielding a quick result.

One roll was a Mastertouch Hand Played Roll of "Coronach -- A Highland
Lament".  I duly plugged this into Google, and the first result was
an article from MMD 2002.07.11: a plea forwarded by Albert Petrak from
a gentleman who had been searching for a roll of Coronach for a long
time, for his 87-year-old mother who used to play a duet of this piece
with her sister, who had since died.

I sent an email to him offering him the roll for the cost of postage
only, and received an almost immediate reply; he was unbelievably
grateful and couldn't stop thanking me!  I duly sent the roll off, and
he is now sending me a CD of his mother's playing which was recorded
recently for posterity.

Just thought I'd submit this little event as further proof of the value
of the MMD Archives.  In the words of Mr Loesby, it has made possible
a "highlight of an elderly lady's year"!

Robert Perry
Auckland, New Zealand