AN OPPORTUNITY to play all the right notes, and not necessarily in the right order, has arrived at Reading’s railway station.
Yesterday, Great Western Railway and Network Rail unveiled Winnie the Wellbeing Piano on the northside of the station.
And the launch was not a ribbon cutting, but a tinkling of the ivories by railway chaplain John Roe, playing the ABBA classics Mamma Mia! and I Have A Dream, plus Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
He was accompanied by the newly-formed 13-strong GWR Wellbeing Choir and colleagues from Network Rail.
The piano has been installed to mark Mental Health Awareness Week, and was sourced by GWR Train Manager and Wellbeing Champion Beth Witney, who found it listed for free on Facebook Marketplace.
“We were discussing lots of ideas in a wellbeing meeting and when a piano was suggested I thought I’d grab the bull by the horns and find one,” she said.
“I found one listed for free on Facebook 10 minutes from my home in Tilehurst. It was being given away by a lady who’d had it since she was a little girl. If we hadn’t turned up it was going to be sent to landfill.”
And Network Rail Station Operations Manager at Reading station, Harry Smith, said: “We are delighted to welcome Winnie the Wellbeing Piano to Reading station, which I am sure will be a welcome addition and something passengers and visitors alike will enjoy playing.
“The wellbeing of our passengers and staff is something we take really seriously and we’re committed to doing all that we can to make the time people spend on the railway and in our stations as pleasant and enjoyable as possible, and this piano will undoubtedly help with that.
“I look forward to having a play on the piano myself, not that I expect my playing will warrant an audience.”
