INSTEAD of staring at their phones, people can now play the piano while waiting for their train in Reading.
A new addition to Reading Station, unveiled on April 24, is proving a hit with passengers.
A restored piano is now available for passengers to enjoy making music in the concourse.
The instrument was donated to the Reading Library of Things by Highwood School in Woodley, but as the library doesn’t take musical instruments it was offered to The Rotary Club of Reading who agreed to take it.
Their intention was to renovate and repurpose it as a ‘public piano’, offering a free and accessible way for the people of the town to play.
Tony Cowling from The Rotary Club of Reading also runs the Reading Library of Things.
He said: “We’re very grateful to have been gifted the piano and delighted that everyone loves it.
“After 15 years of not being played, it was pretty dirty and tatty when we got it.
“But we sanded and cleaned it, gave it new castors and got it tuned.
“Were delighted that the piano now resides in Reading station and that it has been such an instant success.”
After a full restoration the instrument was given a fresh coat of paint by Solarpunk collective Commando Jugendstil, whose new look for it is a design called ‘The Musical Forest’.
The same collective designed the mural for the Reading Hydro turbine house close to the station.
Bernadette Sachs from Reading Station, said: “We’d like to say a huge thanks to The Rotary Club of Reading for the donation of this beautiful piano, which we are delighted to have on the concourse at Reading station.
“We’ve seen how appreciated pianos at some of our managed stations in London have been by passengers and staff alike, and we hope this will help brighten people’s journeys at Reading for years to come.”
Reading Station celebrates 185 years this year since it first opened its doors as a terminal for Brunel’s Great Western Railway in 1840.
Its new public piano is on the podium on the bridge that runs over the tracks inside the station.
For information, visit: readingrotary.co.uk lotreading.myturn.com nationalrail.co.uk/stations/reading and search for Commando Jugendstil on social media.
