I read with great interest David Bowers' recent tale of the good
old days ["How Times Have Changed!" in 180926 MMDigest].

History repeats itself, and certainly could have here in the UK had
I known that the owner of 600 player pianos in the Cambridge area of
the UK paid two young men to drag them out of a storage unit, burn them,
and weigh in the scrap!  (I heard this on good authority; any further
details?)

Had I known of their impending doom, I would have tried, at the very
least, for a stay of execution, and attempted to get them into schools
with a copy of Givens' "Rebuilding the Player Piano".  As restoration
projects, with mechanical music aside, they would have empowered,
enthused and inspired many smart young minds.

At times I feel like Canute, and a few here at MMD will identify with
this.  But as custodians of these machines, such vandalism should be
averted at whatever the personal (not financial) cost.

For those that care, please try to help re-home anything in such danger.
It may sound like wishful thinking, but a little creative thinking would
have prevented the destruction of those player pianos.  The good old
days may be gone for now, so it might help if the entrepreneurial
amongst us expend a little effort in re-homing instruments that may be
languishing without the need for financial gain.  We owe it not only to
the instruments, but ourselves.

In another article we are alerting MMD readers to a church barrel organ
that's been restored, deserves a new home and is so rare now it deserves
preservation.

Mark Singleton