Some 15 years ago I was waiting to meet a friend in Richmond station in London. It was pouring with rain, so to pass the time, I wandered into a little auction house. And there amongst the tables and chairs and Welsh dressers, I came across this beautiful little portable harmonium. I asked the auctioneer what the reserve on it was and he said £40, and I thought “Wow, that’s quite a bargain”.
But unfortunately I was tied up with work on the day of the sale, but he said I could do a telephone bid. So on the day I was sitting on my sofa at home and I heard him say “In the room what am I bid for this beautiful, portable, Salvation Army harmonium?”

Silence.

“On the phone?” I said “£40.” I heard him shout out “SOLD!” So she was mine. It was only when I got it home, I discovered several of the keys played the same notes when pressed, some of the black keys were missing completely and the bellows had holes in them so I had to pedal really fast to get any sound out of it. So there it sat in my workroom for many, many years until I decided to get it restored. I tracked down a restorer and he happily agreed to do it, but it was going to cost a huge amount of money. I thought “Well, I really love this instrument”, so I bit the bullet and got it restored. So now my little, £40 harmonium now cost £40 plus the huge amount on top.

So then I had the problem of how to transport it from London, where I live, up to Leeds. It seemed to me there was no option but to build a crate for it. So out I went to the local timber yard, I bought the plywood, the screws, the glue and the hinges, and built a box. So my little £40 harmonium now cost the £40 and the huge amount of money the amount for building the box.

Two weeks into rehearsal, Alan, the director, took me to one side and said “I think I’m going to cut that bit.”

I think not!