617 days ago

'The Stevie Wonder of Silverdale': Retired piano teacher plays for commuters

Melanie Earley Reporter from Rodney Times

Kia ora neighbours, every Thursday Lorraine Sampson makes the 40-minute bus trip from Silverdale to Auckland’s Britomart Station to play the piano for commuters.

The 75-year-old, who is legally blind in one eye and has cataracts in the other, can no longer read music due to her poor vision, so she plays all her music by ear.

There was a time Sampson, a retired teacher, believed she would have to give up playing music altogether due to her eyesight, but she said she found her fingers remembered songs she thought she’d forgotten.

When Sampson discovered there was a free piano for the public to play at Britomart Station she began making weekly trips there to play and raise funds for St John in Silverdale, where she lives.

Read the full story at the link below.

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