b'HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY to the Science Block!The Centenary Appeal Fund was launched in 1962 to raise 50,000 for the provision of a science block, an indoor swimming pool and a School Chapel. Its mental, physical and spiritual needs will thus be met. A very ambitious plan but interestingly different to what actually materialised! Just over thirty years later in 1993 the school Science Block opened. We are still waiting for the indoor pool!Ms BrownA Different Note . . . The Redundant Piano Speaks!Our new C. Bechstein piano arrived late inthe challenges we faced was finding anWhen my voice first reverberated January, replacing the previous instrumentinstrument powerful enough to fill Bigaround these hallowed halls of which dated from at least the 1890s andSchool. Although Big School does notlearning, the widow queen still sat had reached the end of its working life,have a large floor space, the high ceilingsupon the throne. Chords sombre having served the school for many years. make it difficult for a piano to be heard atand joyful emanated from my throat, Mr Czepiel and I embarked on a wonderfulthe back. After several hours of playingaccompanied by the piping voices journey of discovery late last year to findand pondering we found the perfect piano.of the callow youths who strode the a replacement instrument for Big SchoolIt is almost 2.3m in length and weighsparquet floors.that will last well into the next century. Asapproximately 415kg. I have witnessed praise and part of this process, we visited a coupleThe piano needs a few weeks to settlechastisement; coronations and of piano studios. We started by visitingbefore being tuned again but then it will becommemorations; beginnings Belbroughton with a small number of ourheard and played by the staff and studentsand endings. My song has been boys, a wonderful opportunity for all ofof KEVI HGS for many years to come. accompanied by the basso rumble of us to try playing some of the finest qualityMr Ward falling bombs and the happy treble of pianos available. A few weeks later weplay in the quad.ventured to C. Bechstein Manchester Ltd,View from thelocated in a purpose- Bridges of the past I have had many built studio in thecompanions, who have heart of the city. ThisDr Silver, the Music Master, playedpressed my keys with studio had a widerthe piano for the school hymns infaltering uncertainty to range of instrumentsBig School every morninghis firstmeticulous confidence. with prices from 3,000task was to lift the lid and removeThe songs they have drawn up to 170,000! One ofdusters and inkpots which hadfrom my taut wires with their been deposited there mysteriouslydextrous dance of fingers during the previous day. have ranged from the popular to the obscure, the catchy Christmas 1919 tune to the complex opus.The School has many institutions,To all my players and and we are pleased to recogniseaudiences over the long, long amongst them the Philharmonicyears, I dedicate all the notes Society, though we confess weI have sung. I hope you go often wish they would hold theirforward with joy and optimism con i certs at fixed and stated times.in your heart. Know that, though Ther enthusiasm and ardouryou may not have known me, or i are boundless and their playingnoticed me, I have always been s excellent. Would that theypleased to raise my voice for possessed an instrument moreyou, a life full and fulfilled.worthy of them! We understandThe Old Piano (helped to voice that the school piano is forty yearsits thoughts by Mr Duck)old and has been tuned three times!6'