616 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.

Image
More messages from your neighbours
3 hours ago

We're talking new year resolutions...

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

Tidying the house before going to bed each night, meditating upon waking or taking the stairs at work.

What’s something quick, or easy, that you started doing that made a major positive change in your life?

Image
7 hours ago

Concrete Placing

Zen from Zenscape Limited

Taking bookings for 2025
We do driveways, slabs, patios, retaining walls and specialize in decorative surfaces including imprinted and polished concrete

Only a couple of spots left for January, and taking bookings for February onwards

Send plans or scope of work to contracts@zenscapelimited.co.nz for a free quote
Call Zen on 021908205

15 days ago

Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.

If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?

Image
Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
  • 62.8% Summer
    62.8% Complete
  • 35.8% Winter
    35.8% Complete
  • 1.4% Other - I'll share below
    1.4% Complete
2277 votes