15. 08. 2016

Lameroo

On the piano hunter trail Daryl Wallis and Country Arts SA visited the Lameroo Memorial Hall to investigate the state of the Laffargue from New York. With a tinker and tune – she’ll be ready to share the stage in her upcoming role in Reclaimed Pianos.

We visited Edna Gilbertson and Elsie Webb at the Aged Care home where the group shared gleeful tales of Blind Harold Raymond and his ‘talking violin’ and variety show. His name seemed to trigger memories in almost everyone in the room.

Elsie played a tune for us on her organ in her room telling us her one regret in life is that she never learnt to read music; an interesting reflection for  lady who is in her 99^th year on this earth and still plays every morning for the residents.

The next stop was Kyeema Hostel. It was abuzz with stories, memories of listening to the piano during soldiers’ farewells, recalling dances they attended until the wee hours of the morning while the kids slept in the car and the men hung around outside while taking a few sneaky nips for a bit of Dutch courage.

We visited June Walter the following morning and one of her baby grand pianos. Daryl played her a snippet of a work that will appear in the show. June’s granddaughter dropped in before her afternoon shift at the hospital and, as an avid player herself, she took us to her house to visit the other baby grand in the family.

It was a great couple of days.We’re looking forward to visiting with Daryl and bringing a couple of the acrobats to Kyeema house for a circus workshop.

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