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5th June 2008
VOLUNTEERS are awaiting delivery on Friday – during Volunteers’ Week (June 1 to 7) – of a specially commissioned piano which they will play on board Brunel’s ss Great Britain. |
It is one of many activities to further enhance the visitor experience at Bristol’s multi award-winning visitor attraction – adding to the already fun-filled ‘what’s on calendar’ of events.
Volunteers will play on the ship’s Promenade Deck, a space once used by First Class passengers to exercise and entertain each other on the 62-day voyage to Australia.
Some of the Victorians’ most popular parlour tunes will feature in the volunteers’ repertoire. The equivalent of today’s ‘Top 40’ included ‘Grandfather’s Clock’, ‘A Life on the Ocean Wave’, ‘Auld Lang Syne’, ‘Londonderry Air’ and ‘No Place Like Home’ – especially poignant for those who were leaving England for good.
Experts at Bristol-based company Mickleburgh Ltd have adapted a piano, which is just over 100 years’ old, for Brunel’s ss Great Britain.
The commissioned piano needs to withstand the special atmospheric conditions created by the dehumidification plant to halt the ship’s corrosion. The solution is a digital piano inside a standard acoustic casing. Players can choose between the acoustic or the digital setting, which will not need tuning.
The Victorian instrument which was previously on the Promenade Deck – also kindly provided by Mickleburgh Pianos – has not been played since completion of the ship’s conservation and restoration in 2005.
The ss Great Britain Trust, which runs Brunel’s ss Great Britain, is an independent charity, with no government funding. The organisation relies on the support of its volunteers to welcome visitors and help bring the ship to life. Volunteers also support technical, education, curatorial and fundraising activities.
Keith Stanton, Visitor Services Manager for the ss Great Britain Trust, commented: “Volunteers play an extremely important role at Brunel’s ss Great Britain, especially within visitor services. Having volunteers on board ship playing the piano will add an extra dimension to the visitor experience. It will help visitors get a better feel for what it must have been like for passengers on board the ss Great Britain emigrating to Australia in the mid to late 19th Century.”
Mike Barnfield Managing Director of Mickleburgh Ltd, said: “We have been searching for a good quality digital unit to fit the acoustic piano for the last couple of years, and having found one earlier this year we are pleased to have been able to meet the needs of Brunel’s ss Great Britain. The timing was perfect!
“Normally these units are designed to enable a pianist to play an acoustic piano through headphones, but with the addition of a speaker on the ship it enables the piano to be heard by all on the Promenade Deck, and due to its digital nature the tuning will be unaffected by the dry environment on board, necessary to prevent the ship from further corrosion.”
More than 15,000 people emigrated to Australia on the ss Great Britain, following the discovery of gold. The voyage took about 62 days and passengers organised piano recitals, mock trials, dances, wrote newsletters, and even gambled to entertain themselves.
Volunteers' Week, which runs June 1 to 7, is the UK's annual celebration of volunteers.